July 25 – The on-going shareholder battles at Premier League Arsenal have taken a new turn with Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov (pictured), who has repeatedly failed in his attempts to increase his 30% stake in the club, now apparently putting his holding on the sales block to anyone but rival American shareholder Stan Kroenke.
Usmanov made a £1.3 billion offer to buy Kroenke’s 67% shareholding in May 2017, blaming him for what he saw as majority ownership failure and mismanagement in preventing the club challenging for Premier League titles.
Kroenke countered with a £525 million for Usmanov’s holding. Both offers were rejected but now the AFP is reporting that Usmanov would sell to someone who “shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club”.
In its latest valuation of Europe’s elite clubs, KPMG Football Benchmark put Arsenal at €2.1 billion. If that value held it would make Usmanov’s stake worth about €630 million (£560 million), not far off the offer Kroenke made.
Arsenal is going through a regeneration of its playing side and entering a new era under new manager Unai Emery who takes over this season after 22 years of Arsene Wenger’s team leadership. A feature of the last few seasons is that the competition over the shareholdings has too often been fiercer than Arsenal’s on-pitch performances.
Usmanov bought into Arsenal in 2007, when he spent £75 million alongside Anglo-Iranian businessman Farhad Moshiri for a 14.6% stake. Kroenke also bought into the club in 2007. In 2016 Usmanov increased his stake when he bought out Moshiri who went on to take ownership control of Everton.
Off the field Arsenal Holdings has been the financial model of success. December 2017 figures show much-improved pre-tax profits of £44.6 million, buoyed by a big jump in broadcasting revenue. This was after taking account of £14.7 million of net finance charges.
Accounts of Arsenal Football Club plc, show pre-tax profits reaching £69.2 million on turnover of £408 million.
A breakdown of this turnover showed that, while broadcasting revenue shot up from £140.5 million to £198.6 million, match day revenue was down from £91.5 million to £86.1 million. Just over £56 million of overall broadcasting revenue was derived from the Champions League. Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League last season.
Arsenal would be a prized asset but perhaps the biggest issue for any shareholder picking up Usmanov’s 30% stake is that it doesn’t give them a seat on the board – essentially relegating them to another voice in the crowd when it comes to big decisions.
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