Stan Kroenke Launches Arsenal Takeover Bid, Values Club at £1.8B

Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has launched a bid to take 100 per cent control of the club, which will value the Gunners at £1.8 billion. 

According to a report from the Mirror's Alex Richards and Matt Lawless, Kroenke will pay Alisher Usmanov £550 million for his 30 per cent stake in Arsenal, giving the former "complete control" over the club.

Lawless relayed a statement from Kroenke's company, KSE:

"KSE UK is pleased to announce the terms of its all-cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Arsenal Holdings PLC other than the Arsenal Shares already held by KSE.

"KSE, a Delaware corporation wholly-owned by Mr E. Stanley Kroenke, currently holds 41,743 Arsenal Shares, representing approximately 67.09 per cent of the existing issued share capital of Arsenal."

Kroenke added: "We at KSE are moving forward with this offer leading to 100 per cent ownership of the club. We appreciate Mr. Usmanov’s dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the Club represents."

Usmanov later confirmed his intention to sell his Arsenal shares in a statement in which he criticized Kroenke for his handling of the club, via Rob Harris of the Associated Press:

Usmanov holds 18,695 shares in Arsenal, and he'll receive £29,419.64 in cash from Kroenke for each one.

BBC Sport's Dan Roan relayed a strongly worded statement from the Arsenal Supporters' Trust, which is unhappy with the news:

Tim Payton, who is on the board of the AST, went into further detail about his concerns regarding the takeover:

Kroenke, who also owns multiple sports teams in the United States including the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Rapids, first bought a stake in Arsenal in 2007.

The 71-year-old joined the board of directors the following year after increasing his share, and he became the majority shareholder in 2011.

Arsenal have won the FA Cup on three occasions since Kroenke first bought shares in the club, but they're the only major honours the team have achieved in that time.

Despite those victories, the Gunners have been in decline for the decade the American has been on the board and have failed to secure a UEFA Champions League place in each of the last two seasons.

Fans have been vocal with their displeasure at the running of the club, particularly related to the persistence with Arsene Wenger as manager before his departure earlier this year and the relative lack of investment in the transfer market when compared with their Premier League rivals.

The team are now heading in a new direction with Unai Emery in charge. They also broke their own transfer record twice in the space of six months with the purchases of Alexandre Lacazette last summer and then Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January, but it's too early to tell if that will yield success in the coming years.