Hill-Wood backing Kroenke

Gunners chairman backs US bid

Last updated: 16th October 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hill-Wood backing Kroenke

Kroenke: Closing on takeover.

Related links

Teams

Also see

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has, for the first time, welcomed a potential takeover bid from Stan Kroenke.

The Gunners have in the past looked to fend off foreign interest in the club, with both American Kroenke and Uzbek businessman Alisher Usmanov purchasing substantial stakes in the club in the past 12 months.

Now Hill-Wood looks to be siding with Kroenke - owner of American sporting outfits Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche.

Kroenke is the club's major shareholder having increased his stake to 28.9 per cent on Thursday, leaving him ahead of Usmanov, who holds around 25 per cent.

The American is now just one per cent short of the 29.9 per cent figure which, under British law, means he must make a mandatory offer for the remaining shares in the company.

Hill-Wood, who himself owns less than one per cent, has now welcomed Kroenke's increasingly active interest in the club.

"It does look like he is edging towards a takeover, which I would welcome," Hill-Wood told the Daily Star.

"I have not asked him if that is what he plans to do, but I am very relaxed about it.

"If it was to happen, I don't think you can expect any big changes because he seems to like things very much the way they are."