Arsenal Could Be Next Club To Fall Into Media Hands

Reports circulating this morning suggest that double winners Arsenal may be the next football club to fall to a media company, and come in the wake of yesterday’s announcement that the Manchester United board have accepted BSkyB’s buy-out offer of £625 million (see Newsline).

Carlton is said to have been in talks with Arsenal for some time, and, although an agreed deal is not said to be imminent, a figure of £275m is being mentioned.

Arsenal is not a fully listed public company, and cannot rival the worldwide fan base of Manchester United, nor the current ground capacity. However the club -along with United and Liverpool – appeared to be at the front of the queue for any future European Super League plans.

Its shares are traded on the Ofex market, and are currently worth just under £3,000 each. The city values the club at between £160m-£180m. The Arsenal board holds most of the shares.

Carlton shares closed last night at 425p, having been nearer the 600 mark in the summer. Carlton is valued at less than a third of BSkyB. The share price has suffered recently from city fears over the launch of ONdigital against Sky’s digital offereing.

In common with Sky, ONdigital sees sports coverage as a key driver for digital sales.

Carlton were unavailable for comment this morning when contacted by Newsline

Carlton: 0171 663 6363