By Mark Baber
May 12 – Widely believed to be the world’s richest black person and the richest African, Aliko Dangote, has opened up media speculation by publicly expressing interest in purchasing Arsenal football club.
Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote heads up the Dangote Group and is one of only seven black people in the 2013 Forbes list of 1,426 of the world’s billionaires. In 2010 he was linked with the North London club but denied the speculation he would be investing in the club at the time.
Now Dangote, a long-time supporter of Arsenal, whose wealth has been estimated at $15.7 billion, has told Bloomberg: “I still hope, one day at the right price, that I’ll buy the team. I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy.”
Arsenal Holdings Plc, the owner of Arsenal Football Club, trades on the ICAP Securities & Derivatives Exchange and is valued at £988 million ($1.49 billion). American Stan Kroenke holds 67% Arsenal whilst about 30% is owned by Red & White Sec Ltd, controlled by billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
There is no indication that either Kroenke or Usmanov are actively seeking to sell their stakes in the club, and with FFP rules in place there is probably little for Arsenal to gain from a new billionaire coming in.
For Dangote, the purchase of Arsenal should be affordable, although tying his assets up in the club rather than in his rapidly expanding African business may not make much commercial sense.
In a better world, his other ventures, including a $1 million donation to halt the spread of Ebola, would of course earn him greater recognition.
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