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Kroenke might not surrender 12 percent Arsenal stake

Dex Mcluskey And Brian Lysaght, Bloomberg News

Published October 26, 2007 at midnight

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LONDON - Stan Kroenke might agree not to sell his 12 percent stake in Arsenal to prevent Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov from gaining control of London's most successful soccer club.

A week ago, Arsenal directors, who control about 46 percent of the equity, pledged not to sell their stock to anyone other than close family until April 18, 2009. After that, and until Oct. 18, 2012, they first must offer their shares to fellow directors before selling them to anyone else. The accord can be terminated two years early.

"I don't have any problem with" the agreement, Kroenke said Thursday.

Asked whether he'll sign it, he replied, "We'll see."

The directors made the agreement after Usmanov and his partner, fund manager Farhad Moshiri, built a 23 percent stake in the Gunners, 1 percentage point less than director Danny Fiszman, the largest investor. Usmanov has said his long-term aim is to own the club, while Kroenke didn't rule out a purchase.

"It's a partnership, at this point," said Kroenke, who counts among his Colorado holdings Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids, the NBA's Nuggets, the NHL's Avalanche and the Pepsi Center. "There are lots of owners in Arsenal, so we'd have to see how that worked."

Kroenke built his stake after the Rapids and Arsenal agreed to share coaching expertise. Arsenal also is discussing a broadband-communications collaboration with him.

"We're long-term investors. We do things for very specific reasons," Kroenke said. "If you invest in sports teams and don't look to the long term, then you aren't a very good investor."

Kroenke, who in April bought 9.9 percent of the club from broadcaster ITV Plc for $133.3 million, hasn't been invited to become a Gunners director and hasn't sought a seat on the board of the 13-time English league champion.

"It's their board," he said. "They'd have to invite me."

Other owners of U.S. sports franchises probably will seek to buy U.K. and European soccer teams, said Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys.

"They're multisports-oriented, which they need to be," Jones told reporters before ruling himself out of any purchases.

Including $533 million of debt accumulated building the Emirates Stadium, any takeover of Arsenal would eclipse the record $1.47 billion Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer paid for Manchester United in June 2005.

Since then, Randy Lerner, owner of the Cleveland Browns, has purchased Aston Villa, a Birmingham, England-based Premier League team, and in February, George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought five-time European champion Liverpool, the country's most successful club.

Hicks owns the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars, and Gillett,of Vail, owns the Montreal Canadiens and used to run the Miami Dolphins and basketball's Harlem Globetrotters.

Usmanov and Moshiri initially bought David Dein's 14 percent in Arsenal and made him chairman of their investment unit, Red & White Holdings Ltd.

Kroenke declined to say whether he had had talks with Dein, who in April stepped down as vice chairman of Arsenal concerning a dispute about future investment.

Kroenke, a co-owner of the St. Louis Rams, is in London in advance the NFL's first regular-season game to be played outside North America: the New York Giants will play the Dolphins on Sunday in front of 86,000 fans at London's Wembley Stadium.

Two days ago, Arsenal won a Champions League match against Slavia Prague 7-0 to tie the biggest winning margin in Europe's top club competition. The Gunners hold a two-point lead atop England's Premier League over defending champion Manchester United.