Arsenal majority shareholder Kroenke makes £550m full ownership bid

Arsenal's American majority owner Stan Kroenke on Tuesday made a £600m bid to bring the football club entirely under his control.

Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov has finally agreed to sell his 30% share to the American billionaire after years of being blocked from of the club's board.

Kroenke's KSE has offered £29,419.64 in cash for each of Usmanov's shares, giving a total value to the club of £1.8bn. it would give Kroenke 97.13% of the club’s shares, allowing him under current rules to compulsorily purchase all remaining shares and take the club private.

Usmanov had made a £22,000-a-share bid to buy the club outright in May last year but this was rejected by Kroenke, who has been the majority shareholder since 2011. Last year the American also made an offer of around £525m to purchase Usmanov’s shares, a bid which was also turned down.

On Tuesday Kroenke said: "We at KSE are moving forward with this offer leading to 100% ownership of the club. We appreciate Mr Usmanov's dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the club represents."

A statement from KSE said the company would be a “committed, long term owner of the club” and that a single owner would aid the “furtherance of the club’s strategy and ambitions”.

However, there have been concerns raised by some Arsenal supporters that Kroenke owning 100% would mean any remaining accountability to fans is lost as the Club turns into a Plc, removing the annual general meeting and the path for supporters to raise legal objection to what fees or dividends he takes out of business. The statement said that Kroenke will raise the capital to take control of the club with £45m of his own money and £557m of borrowed funds, which it said will not be against the club.

But KSE said its ambitions included consistently competing to win the Premier League and Champions League while also earning major trophies in the women’s senior game and at youth level.

“Under KSE's stewardship since 2011 the club has invested in major transfers, player contracts, analytics, senior non-playing football management employees, building the club's global brand and fan-base, and the stadium, training facilities and club offices,” said the statement.

Meanwhile, back on the pitch, the club kick off their 2018/2019 Premier League campaign against reigning champions Manchester City on Sunday with new manager Unai Emery at the helm.