Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood, who rejected Stan Kroenke when the American started buying a stake in the club two years ago, yesterday helped the businessman move closer to taking over the Premier League team.

He sold 100 shares to Kroenke, who also bought another 100 in the market. That moved Kroenke to within 0.1 percent of the 30 percent holding that would trigger an obligatory takeover bid for the 13-time national champion.

Hill-Wood said the soccer club didn’t “need his money and we don’t want his sort” in April 2007, when the Denver Nuggets basketball team owner started taking a stake. The 62-year-old was invited onto the Gunners board last September and has been able to turn himself into the club’s largest shareholder by convincing fellow board members to sell him their stock.

“They may be getting into bed with Kroenke because he has an agenda that parallels what the board likes and are prepared to got to the next level,” said Stephen Schechter, founder of Schechter & Co. a London-based investment bank.

Concern over Arsenal’s second biggest shareholder Alisher Usmanov may be another reason why the Gunners’ chief has embraced the American, said Schechter, whose bank has helped seven U.K. clubs raise money.

Usmanov has a 25 percent stake in the club, yet remains an outsider. His offer to underwrite a 100 million-pound ($165 million) rights offer to help fund player trades and draw down debt was rejected by the board earlier this year.

The Uzbekistan-born metals magnate, who unlike Kroenke is a regular at the Emirates Stadium, has watched on as Arsenal directors Danny Fiszman, Richard Carr and now Hill-Wood all struck deals with Kroenke.

“An investment in a football club is not a business investment it’s an emotional investment and maybe they afraid he won’t be in it for the long term,” Schechter said.

‘Silent Stan’

Usmanov has spoken of his desire to one day own the Gunners. Kroenke, dubbed “Silent Stan,” remained tight-lipped when shareholders tried to quiz him about his intentions at the club’s annual general meeting last month. Hill-Wood intervened.

The chairman pointed out comments by Kroenke on any future bid had to be unambiguous to prevent any individual plotting a takeover being barred from making a formal move for six months. Hill-Wood said he didn’t anticipate a change in ownership.

Usmanov isn’t the only major shareholder distanced from the club’s management. Lady Nina Bracewell Smith, who has a 15.9 percent stake, was ousted from the board last year after complaining she had been marginalized. Though her family has been connected with the club since 1938, it’s unclear what she plans to do with her stock.

The 2006 move to the 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium and a conversion of the club’s former Highbury ground into a property development has left Arsenal with debts of about 300 million pounds.

Increased Debt

Kroenke, who hasn’t yet paid for much of the stock he’s agreed to buy in the past year, may increase that debt further if he borrows to fund a takeover. Red & White Holdings Ltd., the investment vehicle used by Usmanov to control his Arsenal investment, opposes a leverage buyout as does the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, which claims 13 percent of the club’s stock is owned by small shareholders.

“Two red lines that cannot be crossed are the use of debt secured on the club’s assets to fund a takeover and an ownership structure which excludes small shareholders,” the organization said in a statement on its Web site on Nov. 3 following Kroenke’s purchase of 427 shares.

If Kroenke reaches the 30 percent trigger, he would be obliged to offer shareholders the highest price paid for stock in the club in the previous 12 months. That would be 10,500 pounds per share he agreed with the Carr family in May.

The takeover bid would be deemed successful if he reaches a 50 percent holding, which would cost the investor a minimum of 131 million pounds. Full ownership would require Kroenke to come up with 458 million pounds.

Arsenal, which hasn’t won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup, has made a positive start to the season. It’s third in the Premier League and last night trounced Dutch champion AZ Alkmaar 4-1 to move within a point of making the final 16 of the Champions League.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tariq Panja in London at tpanja@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 5, 2009 10:55 EST