Chairman Peter Hill-Wood said earlier this year that Danny Fiszman would never sell his shares unless he got “really brassed off.”
On Thursday I heard that a “briefing ” would be given by David Dein somewhere in Camden.
Sure enough, Dein announced that he has sold his 14.58% stake for £75 million to a company jointly owned by the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri, a London-based investor. The company, Red and White Holdings, will have Dein as its chairman. Additional funds have been committed to buy more Arsenal shares, although Dein insists there is no “current intention” to try to take over the entire club.
So 26.79% of AFC is now owned by a US billionaire and a Russian billionaire.
Dein has sold to an oligarch. The directors did not want to sell to Stan Kroenke, a nice, sensible basketball player from Missouri, so they kicked out David Dein, who has now sold his shares to an oligarch. One imagines that Danny will be brassed off. He will now regret removing Dein from the board.
What will happen now? Is it all over for the present Arsenal board ?
The Russians are serious investors with huge financial clout and a plan which probably includes controlling world football by owning Arsenal and Chelsea.
This shock development suggests that Dein has burned his bridges with Stan Kroenke, who cannot now gain control, so Kroenke’s 12.19 % will be for sale to the highest bidder.
The hedge funds could come under serious pressure from the new investors in their other businesses if they get in the way. So Lansdowne Partners may be forced to play ball. The Arsenal board hold less than 50%. If they don’t sell now, there may be no liquid market for their shares when they want to get out. Their investment bank advisers will be pressurising them to take the value on offer now.
The timing of the announcement, when Arsene Wenger is within a week of signing a new three-year contract, is interesting.
In other news, Arsenal will go back to Prague in the Champions League Group Stage.
Manchester United play Roma again, Chelsea play Valencia again.
Arsenal are in Group H with Seville / AEK Athens, Slavia Prague and Steua Bucharest.
FULL DRAW :
Group A: Liverpool, Porto, Marseille & Besiktas.
Group B: Chelsea, Valencia, Schalke & Rosenborg.
Group C: Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, Lazio & Olympiacos.
Group D: AC Milan, Benfica, Celtic & Shakhtar Donetsk.
Group E: Barcelona, Lyon, Stuttgart & Rangers.
Group F: Manchester United, AS Roma, Sporting Lisbon & Dynamo Kiev.
Group G: Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow & Fenerbahçe.
Group H: Arsenal, Seville/AEK Athens, Steaua Bucharest & Slavia Prague.
Arsenal have never played Slavia, Steua or Seville before.
MORE on ANR later today.