The battle for control of Arsenal has taken a potentially decisive turn after leading shareholder Danny Fiszman sold a third of his stake to American sports franchise owner Stan Kroenke for £42.5m. Fiszman sold 5,000 shares at a price of £8,500 each, taking Mr Kroenke’s stake from 12.4 per cent to 20.5 per cent, overtaking Mr Fiszman whose stake is now 16.1 per cent. The biggest shareholdr is still Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek-born billionaire steel magnate, whose share is less than 25 per cent.
The battle for control of Arsenal has taken a potentially decisive turn after leading shareholder Danny Fiszman sold a third of his stake to American sports franchise owner Stan Kroenke for £42.5m. Fiszman sold 5,000 shares at a price of £8,500 each, taking Mr Kroenke’s stake from 12.4 per cent to 20.5 per cent, overtaking Mr Fiszman whose stake is now 16.1 per cent. The biggest shareholdr is still Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek-born billionaire steel magnate, whose share is less than 25 per cent. There has been speculation that Mr Fiszman’s main motive was to ensure that the North London club does not fall into the hands of Usmanov. Mr Fiszman is a tax exile in Switzerland and makes only occasional appearances at the Emirates. He has previously said that he had no intention of selling down his stake. He denied that the sale was linked to the global economic downturn or that he was losing interest in the club.
Mr Kroenke’s purchase had to be approved by the rest of the directors under the terms of the 2007 lockdown agreement that forbids the sale of shares without each other’s consent. Kroenke Sports Enterprises was initially distrusted by the board, but it has built up a commercial relationship with the club making use of its Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer franchise. Kroenke is seen as far preferable as an investor to Mr Usmanov who is perceived as predatory. The board is thought to be worried about Mr Usmanov teaming up with Lady Nina Bracewell Smith who was ousted from the board to her annoyance last December. She still holds 15.9 per cent of the shares and if she sold them to Mr Usmanov he would have a stake of nearly 41 per cent. Mr Kroenke did not get his shares on the cheap, as he had to pay more than £1,000 above the price of recent trades. The outcome of the Emirates Stadium mystery (to parody the title of a pre-war film set at Highbury) remains uncertain.