Lady Bracewell-Smith puts cat among Arsenal pigeons

Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, who in the past has said she would never sell her 15.9 per cent stake in Arsenal because of her husband's family's attachment to the club, today announced that she had appointed bankers to find a buyer for the shares. Her stake is thought to be worth £80m.

Indian-born Bracewell-Smith, who has had the shares since her husband Charles transferred them to her five years ago, is the club's third largest shareholder after the American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke (29.98 per cent) and the Kazakh billionaire Alisher Usmanov (26.29 per cent).

If either man were to take control of even a small portion of Bracewell-Smith's shares, it would take them over the 29.99 per cent shareholding threshold at which they would be obliged under stock market rules to make a formal takeover bid. Kroenke needs only 17 shares to pass the threshold.

It would appear that in asking the US asset management group Blackstone to find a buyer, 55-year-old Lady Bracewell-Smith is seeking to avoid either man taking control of the club.

In December 2008, shortly after being manoeuvred off the Arsenal board, Lady Bracewell-Smith told the Daily Mail: "I've never had a thought of selling my Arsenal shares, and I still don't." Something has happened to change that - and Arsenal fans will be itching to know what it is. ·