Falling Crowds Row Rumbles On - 25/09/2005

Arsenal is the only 'top four' Premiership club that has not been taken over or become the subject of possible bids. However, the club has emphatically denied that it has been engaged in takeover talks, a message reinforced by manager Arsene Wenger who said that he did not want to see new owners. Newspaper reports referred to a consortium, possibly involving a Russian billionnaire, who had pulled out of talks over an asking price of £350m. Arsenal issued a statement to the London Stock Exchange that 'the board of directors confirms that it is not and has not been in any such talks and has not received any such approach.' Shares in Arsenal, which are traded on the Ofex market, ended 3.2 per cent higher on Friday, valuing the club at just under £300m. Arsene Wenger said that he was reassured that the clubs owners were English and fans of the club.

This summer the club refinanced some of the cost of its new Emirates stadium in the capital markets. It borrowed £260m from investors using ticket sales as security, a move that ties the performance of the bonds to the team's ability to attract fans to its new stadium. A take over would not affect the securitisation. Arsenal had an operating profit of £20.2m in 2004-5 and a margin of 18 per cent. The new stadium's capacity is expected to allow operating profit to rise in 2006-7. Leading shareholders in the club are diamond trader, Danny Fiszman, with more than a quarter of the shares, and vice-chairman David Dein.