Vice chairman David Dein
Arsenal may be faltering in the Premiership but an
astonishing rise in the clubs shares has bought a late season
bonanza in the boardroom. Takeover rumours have driven the huge
share price to a record high of £6,200, up £900 on this week
alone.
The surge has added millions to the wealth of the clubs 10
directors. The most spectacular return has been made by vice
chairman David Dein, who first bought into the north London club in
1983, spending £290,250 on 1,161 shares. Peter Hill-Wood, the
clubs chairman, said at the time: I think hes crazy. Its dead
money. But today Mr Dein, a lifelong supporter, is sitting on a
stake worth about £57 million.
The latest spiralling of the share price was triggered by a sale of
part of the holding owned by Danny Fiszman, the largest
shareholder. It means Arsenal is now Britains second most valuable
club, after Manchester United with a market value of £385 million.
Any bidder would have to offer substantially more to get control,
putting a potential price tag of £500 million on the Gunners.
However analysts have dismissed the prospect of Arsenal the last
of the Premierships Champions League clubs to be in English
ownership being sold to foreign investors. The club said that
there has been no approach and there is no interest in selling. But
the stellar performance of the share price has led to speculation
among fans as to who is buying them.
Mr Fiszman, another lifelong supporter, received £5,975 a share
when he off loaded 659 shares last week, worth £3.9 million. That
sparked a new round of takeover talk centred around Middle East
investors. A spokesman for the Arsenal Supporters Trust said: It
is all very intriguing. We know who is selling, but we dont know
who is buying.
