Dein has not done what a lot feared. He has not sold his 14.7% shareholding in Arsenal to his friend Stan Kroenke! He has however found a new willing buyer.
He is Alisher Usmanov who forked 75m to aquire Dein’s stake. This places a value for each share at 8200 and the whole club at 510m.Usmanov is the president of GazpromInvestHolding and the owner of GazMetall/Metalloinvest Group.
This Group controls 40% of iron ore production in Russia and the country's 2 of 9 largest steel works.
According to Forbes Magazine, Alisher Usmanov is the 23rd richest businessman in Russia and the 278th richest businessman in the world.
He has said his first love was his stock, or shares, in his metals plants.
What is unsettling is why has Dein gone ahead with this sale. There are only two explanations.
Either he is getting out of Arsenal altogether with probably a view to investing in another club (maybe in tandem with Ecclestone in QPR) or he is in partnership with Usmanov and will return to Arsenal as part of Usmanov’s team that may eventually take over.
Mr Usmanov's firm, Red and White Holdings, which lists Dein as its Chairman (!), said it wanted to up its stake in Arsenal over time. But it stressed there were no plans for an imminent increase in its holding.
Who believes them? This is what they all say. Why would a man of his means invest 75m without wanting to take control?
What do you think?
Alisher Usmanov Fact File
Age: 52
Fortune: NA
Source: Steel
Net Worth: 2.6 bn USD
Country Of Citizenship: Russia
Residence: , Russia
Industry: Mining/Lumber
Marital Status: married, 2 children
Posts
4 comments:
Take no credit from the 'no takeover' announcement. If they say they are planning to make a bid then they enter a formal process - so they can't say it....read the footnotes to the Red and white holdings announcement to see the relevant weasel words.
Personally I wish Dein would go stick his head in a pig
Dein is coming back and this will unsettle things both at the boardroom level and on the pitch. At a time when the team is doing so well.
I wish Dein will go away
I think we have to wait and see what Dein has in mind. At least a Russian owner may not have profit as his only motive.
This may be good for Arsenal rather than Kroenke who had to make a profit from his investment!
The writer of arsenalanalysis.blogspot.com has written a superior article. I got your point and there is nothing to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not disagree with: 6 O’clock newscasts always do segments on how nice the weather was, despite everyone knowing this I will be back.
Post a Comment