Arsenal Clamp Down On Billionaire Takeover Prospects

Arsenal Football Club has again today been surrounded by talks of a takeover by a predatory Russian billionaire, as its board of directors moved to halt any prospective increase in the businessman’s stake in the club.

Billionaire Alisher Usmanov has recently publicly announced he intends to increase his 23% stake in the company which runs Arsenal Football Club, which would see him stage a Roman Abramovich-style takeover of the London based Premiership side.

However, Arsenal’s board of directors has today extended the time framce of a binding restrictive covenant on share issues which mean that only those deemed ‘permitted persons’ may be entitled to acquire more shares within the company.

Usmanov has stated that he would be willing to buy the stakes of current major shareholders if they were looking to sell in order to consolidate his position within the company, and his rights as regards control of the way in which the business is run.

However it is thought to be the case that certain preemption rights may prevent the billionaire from capitalising on any further issues of shares for the time being, particularly as the board of directors look to fend off the threat from his potential takeover bid.

Additionally businessman Stan Kroenke has also been looking to build up a stake in the club, currently holding just over 12% of the shares as he made a move to acquire the company earlier this month.

Whilst the directors have attempted to close out any potential further offering from Usmanov in their capacity as shareholders, there is a possibility of them being held accountable under new Companies legislation for acting improperly in the interests of the company, on the presumption that minority shareholders may want to be free to sell their shares as they see fit.

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