Arsenal shareholder Kroenke set to take over NFL’s Rams

ARSENAL shareholder Stan Kroenke has announced he will exercise his right of first refusal to push through a complete takeover of the NFL’s St Louis Rams.

Kroenke already owns 40% of the Rams and Monday saw the expiration of a 60-day deadline in which he had to decide how to proceed with his interest in the club.

The announcement Kroenke intends to acquire the remaining 60% of the Rams came shortly after his prospects at Arsenal took a new twist with reports that Nina Bracewell-Smith, who holds nearly 16% of the club’s shares, had appointed bankers to find a buyer. Kroenke is just a handful of shares from reaching a 30% stake in Arsenal, at which point he’d be required to submit a formal takeover bid for the club.

However, his unexpected move for the Rams has come after Illinois businessman Shahid Khan appeared to be in the driving seat for the transaction.

Kroenke’s pursuit of the Rams is set to provide a test of the stringency of the NFL’s rules on cross-ownership that prevent owners from having a majority share of an NFL team in one city if they own a majority of another major league team in a different market.

Kroenke currently owns both the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, along with Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids.