Arsenal's takeover ban to expire on Saturday

Russian Alisher Usmanov said he will take a "blocking stake" regarding the full takeover bid of English Arsenal, since the six-month no-bid ban will end Saturday. The Takeover Panel put that restriction in effect last August.

"We will raise our stake to a blocking stake," Usmanov said in Moscow. "We have announced that our company will buy up to 25 percent. We do not have any other plans."

Usmanov has been purchasing small stakes recently that could possibly make him the largest single shareholder in the club, and even though the Takeover Panel's rule 2.8 specifies that statements against future bid intentions should be as "unambiguous as possible," Usmanov has left enough room to make a move.

Arsenal's board was reassured in meetings with the Russian's investment company, Red & White Holdings, that he has no hostile objective. The club is interpreting his statement differently and said his words could be construed as a no-bid position.

The board is waiting for clarification from the panel, and that could prevent Usmanov from making a bid for another six months, unless he openly declares the right to make his play for a takeover.

Arsenal's status as England's last English-owned Champions League club could be in jeopardy. Red & White Holdings claims it hasn't had talks with U.S. billionaire Stan Kroenke, a 12.19 percent shareholder, but Usmanov could see it as a tool that would let him buy up another large holding.

Kroenke constantly refuses to sign the board's "lock-down" agreement where directors have pledged not to sell their shares before April 2009, and he hasn't met for talks regarding the broadband and commercial tie-ups with the club.

Although he will probably complete the talks in time, the directors can't peg him down in person. And as Kroenke is a floating shareholder, Arsenal fans will be kept uneasy.

"The AST has always opposed a hostile takeover. We are firmly of the view that Red & White ought to renew its statement [of August 2007]," read a statement form the Arsenal Supporters' Trust. "By doing so they would ensure absolute clarity around their stated position as long-term investors. This would provide reassurance to our members."

Usmanov's 25 percent holding could stop any special board resolutions reducing the voting rights carried by his shareholding, but if Arsenal proposed to buy back the 18 percent of small shareholders' equity, that would increase the directors' hold on the club.

Arsenal's half-year accounts, which were released last week, stated that income from property developments "are expected to generate turnover, over the next two financial years, in excess of GBP 350 million" which would provide the money for that proposal.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.