Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke increases stake to 67.09 per cent with £616,000 investment

James Benge23 January 2018

Majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has increased his stake in Arsenal to 67.09 per cent with the purchase of 22 ordinary shares.

The 70-year-old’s company, KSE UK Inc, acquired the shares at a price of £28,000 each, meaning an investment of £616,000 to up his holding by 0.04 per cent.

A statement confirmed: On January 23 2018, Arsenal Holdings plc (the “Company”) received notification that on January 22 2018, KSE UK Inc, wholly owned by Stanley Kroenke, a director of the Company, acquired 22 ordinary shares of GBP1.00 each in the company at a price of GBP28,000 per share.

“Taking into account such acquisition, KSE UK Inc, wholly owned by Stanley Kroenke, has a beneficial interest in, and controls voting rights over, 41,743 ordinary shares in the Company, representing 67.09% of the Company’s issued ordinary shares.”

Arsenal shares do not frequently change hands and Kroenke last upped his stake in May 2016 to 67.05 per cent.

Kroenke’s future at Arsenal has been the subject of much debate over the past year, with minority shareholder Alisher Usmanov, who owns 30.04 per cent of the club, bidding £1billion for his rival’s stake last spring.

That was rejected – KSE insisting they were a “committed long term investor” – as was a subsequent £525m offer from Kroenke for Usmanov’s stake.