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James Hunter

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus increases his shareholding in Sunderland as Stewart Donald's influence fades

Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has increased his majority shareholding in the club, with fellow shareholder Juan Sartori also increasing his stake. Louis-Dreyfus previously held 51 percent of the shares in the club and he has increased his holding to 58 percent.

Sartori had a 30 percent holding and that has now been increased to 33 percent. Louis-Dreyfus and Sartori have bought their additional shares from Stewart Donald, whose stake has accordingly been reduced from 19 percent to nine percent.

A statement from Sunderland said: "Sunderland AFC today confirms Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has increased his shareholding in the club. Mr Louis-Dreyfus has increased his stake to 58 percent, with Juan Sartori increasing his shareholding to 33 percent.

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"The acquisition has been made through the purchase of shares previously held by Stewart Donald, who has reduced his stake to 9 percent.

"SAFC's Board of Directors and governance remains unchanged."

When Swiss billionaire heir Louis-Dreyfus initially arrived at the club in February 2021, he bought a 41 percent stake with those shares coming from Donald who was left with 34%.

At that stage, Sartori was already at the club and had a 20 percent holding, while Charlie Methven held the remaining 5 percent.

Louis-Dreyfus was described as the 'controlling' shareholder, even through he did not own an outright majority of the shares in the club.

But that changed in June last year when Methven sold his shares in their entirety and left the club while Donald sold 15 percent, which meant Louis-Dreyfus and Sartori each increased their stake by 10 percent - making Louis-Dreyfus the majority shareholder.

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