Arsenal’s majority owner Stan Kroenke has had a bid accepted by the club’s second largest shareholder Alisher Usmanov to complete a full takeover at The Emirates.
Kroenke has offered to buy Usmanov’s 30 per cent stake in a deal that values Arsenal at £1.8 billion and The Telegraph can confirm that Usmanov has already decided to accept these terms.
The Kroenke statement also say that Kroenke Sports Entertainment, a company wholly owned by Kroenke, has received an irrevocable undertaking from Red and White Securities – the company owned by Usmanov – to accept the offer for his 18,685 shares.
Usmanov, then, will receive around £540 million from Kroenke for his Arsenal shares. The news will bring to an end a takeover battle at Arsenal that has lasted more than a decade, but which was effectively settled in 2012 when Kroenke secured his majority holding after buying the shares of Danny Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith.
Since then, although Usmanov has always hoped that Kroenke would lose interest and be willing to sell, he has had no power, influence or involvement for his investment.
Kroenke currently owns 67 per cent of Arsenal, as well as various sports teams in the United States, including the Los Angeles Rams in American football, the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Rapids and Avalanche in the respective MLS and national ice-hockey leagues.
Stan’s son, Josh Kroenke, has been taking an increasingly hands-on role at Arsenal in recent months and that is now expected to continue.
“We at KSE are moving forward with this offer leading to 100% ownership of the club,” said Kroenke. “We appreciate Mr Usmanov’s dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the club represents.”
It has already been a time of huge off-field change at Arsenal following the departure of long-serving manager Arsene Wenger and this is expected to continue amid the potential departure of chief executive Ivan Gazidis to AC Milan. Gazidis has had an offer from Milan that he is seriously considering but it is unclear the extent to which his decision will be linked to the Kroenke news.
Usmanov’s business partner Farhad Moshiri already sold his Arsenal investment in 2016 so that he could buy a 49.9 per cent stake in Everton. There is now an expectation that Usmanov, whose wealth is estimated at $15.1 billion, may now join his friend at Goodison Park.
