A group of investors from the Middle East is preparing a bid of $2.21 billion (£1.5 billion) for the takeover of Arsenal London, one of the biggest soccer clubs in Europe, according to Bloomberg. If it goes through, the transaction would be the largest in the history of the sport, according to sources quoted by the UK newspaper Telegraph.
American Stan Kroenke, controlling 66.83% stake in Arsenal, would collect about £830 million ($1.246 billion). Red & White Securities, a company controlled by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and financier Farhad Moshiri owns 29.35% of shares and could get £440 million ($661 million).
The offer, which is double the amount that was assessed for Arsenal two years ago, will be supported by funds from Qatar and the UAE, who will pay the debt of about £250 million of the club.
New investors will bring money it to improve the team and promise to cut the tickets for games on Emirates Stadium, the stadium where Arsenal play home games.
Arsenal currently is on the fifth place in the English Championship. The team led by French coach Arsene Venger since 1996 has not won any trophy since 2005. Arsenal has 13 championship titles in England, but the last win was in the 2003-2004 season.
Despite poor results in recent years, Arsenal was evaluated in April 2012 as the fourth most valuable soccer club in the world, after Manchester United, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, according to a Forbes top.
Arabs stormed the European soccer in recent years. With hundreds of billions of dollars earned from oil exports, they first tried to improve their soccer clubs by attracting known players from Europe or Brazil, with huge salaries. Then they began buying clubs with financial problems, especially in Spain (Malaga, Getafe), and more recently have begun to bid for the biggest clubs in Europe.
The list of big soccer clubs controlled by Arabs includes Manchester City, bought in 2008 by the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund for about £200 million and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), bought by the Qatar Investment Authority in 2011, for €50 million, and another Arab investor could invest 100 €million in Italian club AS Roma.
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