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Usmanov Is Seeking Stake In Arsenal To Where
He'd Be Able To Block A Kroenke Takeover |
Arsenal’s “ownership battle threatened to reopen” yesterday after investor Alisher Usmanov issued a statement that he wants to raise his stake in the EPL club, according to Oliver Kay of the LONDON TIMES. Usmanov said that he and his partners at Red & White Holdings “remain committed to raising” their 26.9% share of the team to what he called a “blocking stake” of almost 29.9%. But he “faces fresh resistance from shareholders.” Stan Kroenke “remains just below” the 29.9% threshold, and he “sees no need to take his shareholding to the 29.9 per cent figure, at which point he would be required by law to launch a takeover bid.” Usmanov “is determined to reach the same figure, after which he said that he would try to buy the club or retain his blocking stake.” Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, the “fourth-largest shareholder, appointed bankers in April” to sell her family’s 15.9% stake in Arsenal. But she reportedly “has decided to take her shares off the market -- or at least dramatically increased her asking price” to over US$23,000 per share, bringing their total value to almost US$232M. Bracewell-Smith’s bankers “have spoken to a handful of parties interested in buying her stake, including one from the Middle East, but the difficulties in obtaining further shares -- or at least the expense in buying from Kroenke, Usmanov or Danny Fiszman, the third-largest shareholder -- have deterred potential buyers.” Kay notes with Kroenke “content with his largest shareholding, Usmanov faces a struggle to find enough shares to achieve his first goal of acquiring a ‘blocking sale.’” With a 29.9% share, Usmanov “would not have the strength to block a takeover bid by Kroenke or anyone else, but he would expect to have a greater say in the club’s key decisions” (LONDON TIMES, 12/22).
