Another Arsenal financial miracle
Another Arsenal financial miracle
In March 2005 ITV paid £30m for a 5% holding in Arsenal football club. The shares on the day of the sale were only worth £12m. .
ITV plc committed to the deal in October 2000, when Granada Media bought a 5% shareholding worth £20m and agreed to pay another £30m for a further 5% once the club gained planning permission for a new stadium – which happened way back in 2004.
Not surprisingly ITV forgot to tell anyone on the stock exchange about the deal. Arsenal however were only to happy to announce it on the Ofex exchange in March 2005. ITV might well try and sell the shares at some future point, but this will not affect Arsenal as they now have the £30m and any changes to the share price will not affect them.