Revealed: Arsenal are finalising business move five years in the making
Arsenal are finalising the process of re-registering as a private limited company, Football Insider can reveal.
Several Companies House submissions on Tuesday (18 April) show that the North Londoners are formally moving away from a public company model.
Shares in Arsenal have not been publicly traded since the club was de-listed from the NEX Exchange in 2018 – and they have been a PLC in name only since that date.
The details of the re-registration are being processed by Companies House and will be viewable by next Saturday (29 April).
Arsenal are wholly owned by KSE, the investment vehicle of Stan Kroenke who first bought into the club in 2007 and became majority shareholder in 2011.
The American billionaire has gradually increased his stake in the club since then and reached 100 per cent ownership when he bought out Alisher Usmanov in 2018.
The Gunners’ holding company, Arsenal Holdings Limited, re-registered as a private company shortly after Kroenke’s full takeover.
The holding company’s subsidiary – legally known as The Arsenal Football Club Limited since the re-registration – has now followed suit.
Private and public companies have different regulatory burdens, and some firms make the switch to a private model to increase flexibility and efficiency while reducing costs.
Private limited companies have fewer financial reporting and disclosure obligations and are subject to less strict rules and regulations than their publicly-traded counterparts.
Stan Kroenke and son Josh are now co-chairs of Arsenal after a boardroom restructure in March this year.
The club, who are fighting for the Premier League title with seven games to play, posted a £45.5m loss for 2021-22, the most recent financial year on record.
In other news, Arsenal two-man shopping list revealed after Arteta green light.