ITV mulls Arsenal sale or face £30m bill for further stake

by Sam Matthews,, Brand Republic 31-Jan-05, 08:45

LONDON – ITV is considering selling its stake in Arsenal Football Club as the news comes that chief executive Charles Allen could be forced to pay £30m to increase its stake in the Premiership club from 5% to 10% under a deal arranged four years ago.

Allen bought the stake for Granada for £47m four years ago when broadcasters were seeking rights to football coverage on the internet.

Under the deal, ITV is now obliged to increase its stake in Arsenal as the North London football club prepares to move to its new new multimillion-pound Ashburton Grove Emirates stadium.

The £30m price tag is considered to be up to three times the asking price of the current value of Arsenal shares on the open market.

As Allen continues to sell off ITV's non-core assets, which has totalled £260m in the last year, it is likely he would be more keen to dispose of the 5% stake in Arsenal than increase it further.

If ITV looks to sell its Arsenal stake, it will also try lining up a buyer for its 10% stake in Liverpool Football Club.

The move is part of ITV's plan to sell off its non-core assets after the Carlton Communications and Granada merger.

ITV's sales process began last September when it disposed of Carlton Books for £3m. Later that month, the network sold its 5.5% stake in Thomson to Citigroup and UBS for £162m. In October, ITV sold its 18% stake in Australian media company Village Roadshow for £36m.

ITV is also considering selling Carlton Screen Advertising to Thomson and offloading its stake in Australian media network, Seven. In total, ITV's non-core assets have been valued at £550m.

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