Arsenal’s majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has made a £600m (Shs2.8 trillion) offer to buy the whole of the club in a deal that would value the Gunners at £1.8bn (Shs8.6trillion).
The American billionaire owns 67% of Arsenal through his company KSE, which says Alisher Usmanov has agreed to sell his 30% stake in the club.
A KSE statement to says taking the club private will help to further Arsenal’s “strategy and ambitions”.
The buy-out announcement was made to the London Stock exchange on Tuesday.
Despite his shareholding, Usmanov is not part of the board or the decision-making at Arsenal.
The metal magnate made a £1bn bid to buy the Emirates outfit in May 2017 but this was rejected by Kroenke.
The statement to the stock exchange added: “KSE’s ambitions for the club are to see it competing consistently to win the Premier League and the Champions League, as well as the major trophies in the women’s senior game and at youth level.”
KSE said that under “its stewardship since 2011 the club has invested in major transfers, player contracts, analytics, senior non-playing football management employees” and it “expects the club to build on those investments”.
Arsenal have a new manager in charge this season after Unai Emery took over from Arsene Wenger, who had been Gunners boss for 22 years.
In Wenger’s final season, Arsenal finished sixth in the Premier League as they missed out on the Champions League but qualified for the group stages of the Europa League.
The Gunners start their Premier League campaign against champions Manchester City on Sunday.
Credit: BBC
