Article Taxonomy: Takeovers

The Red Knights are ready to make a £1.25bn bid for Manchester United next month.  £500m will be raised from a group of 50 investors who will now have to put their money where their mouth is and most of them probably will.   A share issue to fans could raise £250m, but their stake could be expanded if there is enough demand, which there could well be.  The £509m bond raised by the Glazers will be kept in place.

The new chairman of Liverpool, Martin Broughton, has made it clear that any buyer of Liverpool must commit to building a new stadium for the club.  He also gave assurances that there was no need to sell star players.

British Airways chairman and Chelsea Martin Broughton has been brought on to the Liverpool board with the task of finding a buyer for the club.   He reckons that it may take a few months to complete the sale, but is not setting himself a deadline.   His task will be made easier by the fact that the whole club is now for sale rather than a stake in it.   George Gillett and Tom Hicks have finally decided to throw in the towel and bring an end to their troubled reign.  

Alisher Usmanov has increased his stake in Arsenal from 26.29 per cent to 26.31 per cent.   This is a miniscule increase, but it could be a significant signal of his intentions, given that he paid over the odds at £10,500 for the 37 shares.  His Red and White Holdings have said that they are keeping all options and have refused to rule out a bid for the club.

‘Silent’ Stan Kroenke has made a surprise move to buy the St. Louis Rams American football team when he had been expected to sell his stake.   He currently owns 40 per cent of the Rams and has turned down an offer to sell that share from auto-parts millionaire Shahid Khan.  Kroenke will instead buy the remainder from Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodroquez, who inherited control when their mother, Georgia Frontiere, died in January 2008.  Kroenke has a right to buy the remaining share under the terms of a partnership agreement.

As Arsenal prepare for a vital league game at Spurs, it looks as if the battle for control of the club is entering its final phase.  Former board member Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith has announced that she is selling her 15.9 per cent stake.  She has appointed New York-based private equity firm Blackstone to advise her which may be a signal that she does not want to make a straightforward sale to Stan Kroenke.   Her family has been associated with the club since 1938.

The Red Knights have delayed making a bid for Manchester United until June to avoid off pitch distractions in what looks likely to be a tight finish to the Premiership title race.   It would also give them more time to finalise their bid, although it seems that they have enough pledges of money to make a credible bid at £1.25 billion.   If they acquired control, they plan to distribute shares to fans to create a Barcelona-type structure.   The one flaw in the pla

A battle for the takeover of Arsenal edged closer after American sports franchise owner Stan Kroenke acquired seven more shares at a cost of £8,500 each.  That may not sound a lot but it puts him ten short of the point at which he would be obliged to launch a takeover bid.  Kroenke has been hanging fire recently because until the end of this month he would be obliged to acquire any additional shares at the highest price he has paid in the last year, pushing up the cost of a bid.