Gazidis denies that Arsenal will be taken over by either Kroenke or Usmanov

Ivan Gazidis, the chief executive of English soccer club Arsenal, has refuted suggestions that Stan Kroenke, the club's majority shareholder, will shortly complete a takeover of the Premier League club. Gazidis has also denied that the club's second largest shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, is seeking to do so.

Both Kroenke and Usmanov have spent tens of millions adding to their stakes in the club in 2009, with Kroenke recently making a number of small investments whenever shares become available. However, while the American's steady approach tp the 29.9 per cent mark that would oblige him to make an offer for the remaining shares in the team worries some, Gazidis believes it is not a tactic he would take if he wanted to complete a buy-out.

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"I'm not sure it is true that either of them is looking to takeover the club, if they were, I'd assume they would take their holding over 30 per cent," Gazidis was quoted as saying by The Leader, the news service provided by the Leaders in Football conference.

"I don't know that it [a takeover] is inevitable. I think, again, the club has been very public about its desire to operate a self-sustaining business model, and I think all of our owners, those on the board and those outside the board, have subscribed to that philosophy. Certainly anyone that's been buying shares understands that this is a self-sustaining business model that they're buying into.

"Whether or not that turns into a takeover bid only those shareholders can ultimately speak too, but I think the fact that nobody has taken their shareholding over 30 per cent, and that 30 per cent number doesn't seem to be a threshold that is imminently going to be crossed, indicates that we don't see a move for a takeover at least at this point."

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