More than £35,000 was staked on Arsenal shares in ‘suspicious’ trading activity minutes before news broke of Alisher Usmanov’s bid to take full control of the club.
The trading history on the NEX Exchange, the unregulated market on which Arsenal’s shares are listed, shows two trades went through just before the market closed on Friday. One worth £17,200 was made just after 3pm and the other worth £18,200 shortly before 4 pm.
More than £35,000 was staked on Arsenal shares in ‘suspicious’ trading activity minutes before news broke of Alisher Usmanov’s bid to take full control of the club.
The trading history on the NEX Exchange, the unregulated market on which Arsenal’s shares are listed, shows two trades went through just before the market closed on Friday. One worth £17,200 was made just after 3pm and the other worth £18,200 shortly before 4 pm.
It was the first time Arsenal’s rarely traded shares had changed hands in amost a month. Only seven trades, including Friday’s, have been made all year. The timing raises questions about whether the buyers of the shares, whose identities remain unknown, caught wind of Usmanov’s bid and hoped to profit from a share price rise.
Arsenal’s share price has not yet seen a spike because the shares are so illiquid. The club’s market value remains about £1.1 billion, although Usmanov’s bid valued it at £1.5 billion.