Sunday, 3 March 2013

Arsenal for sale!

Arsenal have been criticised for their frugal ways in the past - but big money could be about to flow into the Emirates.

According to both the Sunday Telegraph and The Sun, a Middle Eastern Investment group are set to offer a world record fee of £1.5 billion for complete control of the football club.

Such a bid would be almost double the current record price paid for a football club which currently stands at the £800m paid by the Glazers for Manchester United.

According to the Telegraph the funds would come from both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The group would first look to purchase majority shareholder Stan Kroenke's 66.64 per cent share in the club for around £830m which would net the American a profit of £350m.

The same offer – around £20,000 a share – would be offered to other shareholders including Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov who holds a 29.11 per cent stake.

Crucially, though, the investment group would be willing to work with Usmanov if he decides against selling his stake.

The Telegraph reports: "A meeting has already been requested with (Kroenke) to discuss the proposed offer. The seriousness of the bid is reinforced by the recent successful takeovers of Manchester City and Paris St-Germain by Middle East backers.

"Any takeover would inevitably raise questions over the future of manager Arsene Wenger, although the Frenchman is understood to be highly-regarded by the consortium. They do not want to lose his football knowledge and want him to remain at the club."



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