Already Arsenal’s largest shareholder, American Billionaire and Sports Magnet Stan Kroenke has picked up another 160 shares that pushed him to the 28.58% mark, one step closer to the mandatory full stakes offer he must make when he hits the 30% mark.

Via Guardian 

Kroenke purchased a further 160 shares yesterday, at £8,500 each, to reinforce his position as the club’s major shareholder. The move came just two days after the second largest shareholder, the Uzbek metals magnate Alisher Usmanov, was dismayed to see an offer to underwrite a rights issue that would have generated some £60m for transfers and eaten into the club’s £400m debts rejected by board members.

Usmanov admitted his frustration at seeing his scheme thrown out, with the chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, insistent that Arsenal’s current strategy – whereby the Emirates Stadium is essentially self-financing and transfer spending is less lavish – is “efficient” and would remain their favoured policy. That difference in opinion continues to simmer while Kroenke, who has indicated in the past that he does not intend to mount a takeover of the London club, has quietly added to his stake.

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