UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov buys 14.6 percent stake in Arsenal for £75 million pounds from David Dein

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who is ranked 278 on Forbes magazine's rich list, buys a 14.6 percent stake in UK soccer club Arsenal for 75 million pounds. A firm co-owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov said on Thursday (August 30) it had bought a 14.6 percent stake in UK soccer club Arsenal from former Vice Chairman David Dein for 75 million pounds (150.6 million U.S. dollars). The purchase by Red & White Holdings Ltd, which also named Dein as its chairman, could eventually put further pressure on the Arsenal board to force a takeover. A spokesman for Arsenal declined to comment. Red & White said it wanted to increase its stake and would approach the board shortly but had no immediate plans for a full buyout. Red & White "has committed funds to enable it to increase its stake in Arsenal", the firm said in a statement. "Red & White believes that in order to remain competitive at the top level of the game, Arsenal will require access to significant funding." Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes no major change should occur at the club after the shareholders change. "Well I feel David Dein has sold the shares because he is outside of the club and that he has been rewarded for the quality of work he has done for the club. Apart from that the structure of the shares doesn't change you know, because it's exactly the same as before. And what I could hear is that basically that we are not changing in the near future. So far that is not a problem," Wenger said at the news conference on Friday (August 31). The firm now plans to meet Arsenal's board, whose members together own 45.5 percent of the club and have opposed a sale. They also have a lock-up period that runs through April. The firm stated that it was acting independently from U.S. billionaire Stan Kroenke, who bought 10 percent of Arsenal this year and has lifted it to 12.2 percent. Red & White and Kroenke are not seen to be interested in a hostile takeover approach, together or separately, a source familiar with the situation said. Dein's support for Kroenke's interest earlier this year prompted an schism inside Arsenal as Chairman Peter Hill-Wood and other board members insisted they were not prepared to sell. Dein departed in April, and he was followed by the team's goal-scoring star Thierry Henry early in the summer, raising uncertainty about the club and its ability to keep Wenger. Dein in 1996 had hired Wenger, then an unknown coach in England, who went on to win three league titles and four FA Cups for the club. The team has also moved to a new 60,000-capacity stadium in North London. Red & White expressed support for Wenger, saying he was vital to the club's future success, while Dein said in his statement that he hoped his professional relationship with Wegner "can be resumed", adding that he had encouraged the manager to sign a new contract with the club. Red & White co-owners Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri, both Arsenal fans who own a box in the stadium, are the latest examples of non-British millionaires interested in U.K. football clubs, attracted by rising television and commercial revenues. Moshiri, originally from Iran and a close associate of Usmanov's, is a London-based fund manger who recently bought a 10 percent stake in Panmure Gordon. Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are already in hands of U.S. and Russian billionaires. Usmanov, who ranked 278 on Forbes magazine's rich list, owns Russian miner Metalloinvest and various media and telecoms companies in the country including newspaper Kommersant and mobile phone company Megafon.

ITN Source | September 1, 2007

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