While Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner prepares to go under the knife in Germany for a groin surgery, the Arsenal community is far more concerned about the future of the whole club rather than the 21 year old with a minor injury.
It looks like Stan Kroenke; one of four major shareholders in Arsenal intends to takeover the majority of shares through small unnoticed purchases. Bit by bit, Kroenke has –of late- been regularly accumulating Arsenal shares, and is indeed approaching the limit of 30% where he will be able to make a formal bid to takeover the club. He is currently only 0.1% short.
“If Kroenke is not intending a takeover it may well be that he is buying shares as an investment asset. He might see it as good value,” said a managing director at Hermes Sports Partners; a sports financiers and advisers firm.
Harry Philp continued: “There is a precedent for this latter approach; JP McManus and John Magnier built up stock in Manchester United close to the 30% mark and everyone thought they were going to take over, but they didn’t, and made a good return on their investment when the Glazers took over.”
“There are these four big shareholders at Arsenal, and it is hard to predict what the intentions of each is, never mind Kroenke,
“Is there going to be a bidding war between Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov? Danny Fiszman has sold shares to Kroenke previously, but then said in March he had no plans to sell any more.
“Meanwhile Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith is an unknown factor on the sidelines.
“If Kroenke does go ahead he would have to pay completely in cash, as the days of using leverage to buy a football club is just not on the agenda at present,
“He will be weighing up the pros and cons of all the parts of the Arsenal business.
“There are good match day revenues, but the squad wages are higher than what they were a few years ago.
“The property side of the business is sluggish, but the stadium is an asset for bringing in revenue through things like conferences and events.
“The shirt and stadium sponsorship deals are tied in for a number of years, which eliminates them as a source of earning extra revenue in the immediate term,
“And, because they are also long-term deals, it means they bring in less cash value every year.”
The main obstacle standing in “Silent Stan’s” way would be Alisher Usmanov, who holds 25% of the club shares, while Danny Fiszman, and Lady Bracewell-Smith are the other two major share holders, with 13% of the shares held by smaller investors.
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