louboutin03

Kroenke, an American billionaire businessman, has agreed to buy the shares of two other major shareholders, Danny Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith, at a combined cost of around £230 million.

Fiszman, who is seriously ill with cancer, has a stake of 16.1 per cent and Lady Bracwell-Smith, who was ousted from the board of directors in 2008, owns 15.9 per cent. Kroenke was already the largest shareholder on 29.9 per cent and his next transaction, whether it is with Fiszman or Lady Bracewell-Smith, will take him beyond the 30 per cent threshold at which he is obliged to launch a formal takeover offer. An announcement is expected shortly after the stock exchange opens this morning.

Kroenke’s offer for the remaining Arsenal shares is automatically at the highest price he has paid on a single transaction over the past year, which is understood to be the £11,500 he has agreed with Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith. That would value Arsenal at £715.5 million.

It is four years since Kroenke first became an Arsenal shareholder and he has since steadily increased both his shareholding and influence.

He was invited onto the Arsenal board in September 2008 and has since bought shares from fellow directors, including chairman Peter Hill-Wood.

Kroenke shares Arsenal’s basic philosophy of running a self-sustaining business and regularly flies to London for the club’s monthly board meetings. His role for the past two and a half years as a director means that he already has good relationships with Hill-Wood and the club’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

He is also an admirer of manager Arsene Wenger and, although he will be determined to drive forward further improvements in the club’s commercial operation, changes to senior personnel are unlikely.

Kroenke must now wait for the reaction of Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri, who are the second largest Arsenal shareholders. Their Red and White Holdings company currently own just over 27 per cent and they could theoretically also try to take themselves beyond 30 per cent and launch a counter takeover offer.

Yet with Kroenke having secured agreement on 62 per cent of the shares, that would surely be doomed to failure.

With more than 50 per cent, Kroenke will have the power of appointment over directors and subsequent board decisions, including issues such as Wenger’s eventual successor.

However, he would require 75 per cent support from shareholders to make any major capital structuring decision regarding the company. It all means that, unless Usmanov and Moshiri agree to sell their stake, the club would remain listed on the stock market.

However, if Kroenke were to reach a 90 per cent shareholding, the remaining shareholders would be obliged to accept his offer and he could then delist the club from the stock exchange.

Although his purchase of Fiszman’s stake had long been expected, the decision of Lady Bracewell-Smith to sell her stake to Kroenke has come as a surprise. This is because of the sense of letdown she felt at being removed from the board of directors almost three years ago.

There were unconfirmed rumours last night that Lady Bracewell-Smith might still be holding out for a higher price but, according to informed City sources, she is happy with the offer from Kroenke. Even without Lady Bracewell-Smith, Kroenke would be almost certain to get beyond 50 per cent.