A mystery consortium from Qatar and the UAE is reportedly preparing to table a world record bid of US$2.25bn for English Premier League football club Arsenal. If successful, the deal would dwarf the current record of US$1.2bn, paid by the Glazer family for Manchester United, and would strengthen the Arab influence among Europe’s top clubs, with Manchester City and Paris St Germain already owned by Middle Eastern assets as rteported by Qatar Chronicle.
The consortium are believe to hope the huge bid – which more than doubles a 2011 valuation of the club – will be enough to tempt majority owner Stan Kroenke to sell.
The cash offer would reportedly see the investors bid around US$30,000 per share, making Kroenke’s 66.83 percent stake worth US$1.25bn, and would also wipe out the club’s US$376m debt.The group has also reportedly said they would provide substantial transfer funds, reduce ticket prices, and turn Arsenal into a “world force” as reported by Qatar Chronicle.
A bid source, talking to the UK’s Sunday Telegraph, said: “Arsenal is at a pivotal position at the moment. The fear is that the club is facing a cycle of decline like Liverpool. From our point of view it is the perfect moment to make this bid because at this moment in time you can still genuinely justify this extraordinary valuation on the club.
“We will not bid for Arsenal if they go into decline. Kroenke and [major shareholder] Usmanov will not get this kind of valuation if Arsenal do not succeed and will not get this kind of valuation ever again.
“We think that bidding now is the key because it is going to give every shareholder maximum value. We are giving them peak valuation.“The amount of capital required to pump into Arsenal to make it competitive within England, Europe and the world means that the valuation cannot go any higher.”
Source :
Qatar Chronicle
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