Kroenke becomes Arsenal's biggest shareholder

LONDON (AP) -American businessman Stan Kroenke became Arsenal's biggest shareholder Friday after increasing his stake in the Premier League club to 28.3 percent.

Already a director at the Gunners, Kroenke is now closer to the 30-percent threshold that triggers a mandatory offer for the remaining shares.

Kroenke lifted his holding Friday from 20.5 percent by buying out the 4,839 shares held by the Carr family. Richard Carr will remain a director of the club.

Arsenal said Kroenke paid between 8,500 and 10,500 pounds per share, meaning that he paid more than the $60.3 million he cost him in March to buy 8.1 percent of the club.

The next largest shareholder is Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who owns more than 25 percent of the club through investment vehicle Red and White Holdings.

Kroenke also owns NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer.

New Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has previously implied that he would welcome a buyout from Kroenke.

"He is an excellent owner in the other sports he has been involved in. He has been a good part-owner of Arsenal and an active participant on the board,'' Gazidis said in March. "He is a long-term investor who thinks about the sports business very carefully, and philosophically is very close to the traditional Arsenal ethos.

"He believes in the club running itself on a self-sustaining basis, and he obviously must have affection for the club otherwise we wouldn't see his shareholding increase.''

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