Arsenal Lockdown May Not Be All THat it Seems - 21/10/2007

It may look as if a new 'lock down' agreement for leading shareholders has finally secured the future of Arsenal as the only British owned top four club. The iceing on the cake is provided by hints dropped by current chairman Peter Hill-Wood that Arsene Wenger may replace him as chairman when he eventually stands down as coach. However, closer scrutiny shows that the deal may not be as watertight as is supposed. It is true that the existing directors have extended their original one year pact not to sell out to 2009 and beyond. They can only sell to 'permitted persons' until April 2009 and then have to give fellow board members first option until October 2012. Moreover, American billionaire Stan Kroenke could sign up to the agreement with hints being dropped that he might eventually be brought on to the board. Leaving his 12.2 per cent stake aside, there are only two board members who could make a difference in a takeover battle, Danny Fiszman with a 24.11 per cent stake and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith with 15.9 per cent. The other six members only hold about five per cent of the shares.

However, should Swiss tax exile Fiszman decide to cash in his chips, other board members would have to find £156m at current values. Even Lady Nina would be looking for more than £93m, a sum well out of reach of the current board members. In which case, step forward billionaire Stan Kroenke, the acceptable face of foreign investment. What these moves do seem to have done is to outwit Alisher Usmanov and his Red and White Holdings takeover vehicle. Red and White backed all the resolutions at last week's annual meeting and also backed down on its earlier position that the club should start paying dividends like North London rivals Spurs.