U.S. sports tycoon Stan Kroenke has strengthened his links with English soccer club Arsenal by buying a 50 percent stake in Arsenal Broadband Ltd from British broadcaster ITV for 22.7 million pounds ($45.4 million).
Kroenke, co-owner of the St Louis Rams NFL team, has a 12 percent stake in Arsenal, giving him a voice in the future of the north London club in which Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and a partner own around 24 percent.
Arsenal's board own over 40 percent of the club.
"We have held constructive and fruitful discussions with Stan Kroenke over the past year and are excited by the prospect of further developing our mutual commercial projects with KSE (Kroenke Sports Entertainment)," Arsenal Managing Director Keith Edelman said in a statement.
ITV sold its 9.99 percent stake in Arsenal to Kroenke last April and said at that time that it had entered into a conditional arrangement to sell its 50 percent stake in Arsenal Broadband Ltd to him.
ITV said it had received a total of 65 million pounds from Kroenke for its interests in Arsenal and that it had raised over 620 million pounds by selling non-core assets since its creation from the merger of Granada and Carlton in 2004.
Kroenke said in October that his stake in Arsenal was a long-term investment.
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