Apparently rich individuals often have far more value in assets which cannot be realised in the short run that they do in cash. This has been an issue in the takeover troubles at Portsmouth. Stan Kroneke still owes Arsenal board members £50m despite increasing his stake in the club. He has paid for only half his shares since making a £100m commitment to increase his stake from 12.38 per cent to 28.3 per cent. It could take him years to pay off the remainder.
Apparently rich individuals often have far more value in assets which cannot be realised in the short run that they do in cash. This has been an issue in the takeover troubles at Portsmouth. Stan Kroneke still owes Arsenal board members £50m despite increasing his stake in the club. He has paid for only half his shares since making a £100m commitment to increase his stake from 12.38 per cent to 28.3 per cent. It could take him years to pay off the remainder. He still owes Danny Fiszman nearly £40m and has not fully paid off Richard Carr whose 4.38 per cent holding was sold to the American for nearly £25m 10 months ago. Unlike his rival Alisher Usmanov, Kroenke doesn’t have £500m sitting in a bank doing nothing.
UPDATE: KROENKE CLOSE TO ARSENAL TAKEOVER BID – 18/10/09
Stan Kroenke requires 646 more shares to trigger a mandatory takeover bid of Arsenal. Kroenke has increased his holding to 28.86 per cent, just short of the 29.9 per cent threshold at which he would be required to make a formal offer for the club under Stock Exchange rules. Kroenke spent £765,000 on 90 shares purchased privately, probably because only smaller quantities are available in the market. He paid a shade above the market price of £8,450, which has risen by £1,000 since the start of the month. Some analysts believe that he will raise his stake further in the next week but will stop short of launching a full takeover, which would cost him about £460m. The future ownership of Arsenal probably rests in the hands of smaller shareholders who together own about 13 per cent and could be asked to choose between Kroenke and his rival, Uzbek born billionaire Alisher Usmanov. The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust which speaks for about 3 per cent of smaller shareholders said it would be preferable for there not to be a takeover. They supported Stan Kroenke joining the board. but prefer plurality of ownership with shareholders acting as a check and balance.