Arsene Wenger is unfazed as Stan Kroenke ups his stake

James Olley
3 Nov 2009

Arsene Wenger today revealed he has been assured by the Arsenal board that he will remain in total control of team affairs after Stan Kroenke took a step closer to launching a takeover of the club.

Talks took place between the Gunners boss and club directors before Kroenke upped his stake to 29.6 per cent yesterday following the purchase of 427 shares at £8,500 each.

Wenger insisted he was not worried by the development and said: “You know me well enough to know that I believe I have shown I can m anage a club on the technical side and I have that guarantee no matter who the owner is.

“As long as I'm not told I have to change the way I see the vision for the club and as long as nobody interferes, then I do not see what impact it has on me.”

Kroenke is now only 0.3 per cent — which represents just 209 shares — short of the point at which he would be obliged to make a formal bid.

Arsenal announced to the London Stock Exchange this morning that the 62-year-old spent another £3.6million on shares, valuing the club at around £529m.

The shares are understood to have come from the estate of the late Sir Ernest Harrison, who was chief executive of telecoms company Racal Electronics.

Kroenke has been steadily increasing his stake this year but remained silent at last month's AGM when asked directly what his intentions were regarding the club.

His silence could be because, under takeover rules, any public statements about future bid intentions must be unambiguous, otherwise the individual or group will be prevented from making a formal move for six months.

Any offer for all remaining shares would have to be made at the level paid by the bidder in the three months prior to announcing takeover intentions.

For Kroenke to complete a takeover via a “tender offer” he would need to get at least half of the remaining stock. That would mean trying to do a deal with two of the club's three other major shareholders — Alisher Usmanov (25.4 per cent), Fiszman (16.1) and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith (15.9).

However, Usmanov has been seen as a long-term rival to Kroenke, while Lady Nina quit the board in 2008 after falling out with fellow directors and said at the time she had no intention of selling her shares.

The Arsenal Supporters' Trust, which holds around a three per cent stake, insisted that while it approves of Kroenke's involvement, any takeover would be opposed, especially one that puts the club into a level of debt similar to Manchester United.

“We agree with Peter Hill-Wood's statement at the most recent AGM that there is no need for any shareholder to launch a takeover of the club,” said the Trust. “Two red lines that cannot be crossed are the use of debt secured on the club's assets to fund a takeover and an ownership structure which excludes small shareholders.
Arsenal is too important to be owned by any one person.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal were hit by a double injury blow today.

Left-back Gael Clichy suffered a suspected stress fracture of the back against Spurs and although he is expected to be out for a “few weeks” Denilson picked up the same injury on 12 September and has not played since. Striker Nicklas Bendtner will be out for a month with a groin injury sustained in the same game.