Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, plans to buy
London-based Arsenal soccer team within four years.
Dangote, a Nigerian worth $10.9 billion, according to
the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, announced his intention to buy the club last
year. He said he needs to wait for his business prospects to improve and his
investments in gas pipelines and an oil refinery to play out before making the
acquisition.
“There’s no doubt” he’ll buy Arsenal and “it’s not a
problem” of money, Dangote said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in
New York on Wednesday. “Maybe three to four years. The issue is that we have
more challenging headwinds. I need to get those out the way first and start
having tailwinds. Then I’ll focus on this.”
Dangote, an Arsenal fan, has lost $4.4 billion this
year, the fourth most of anyone globally, due mainly to the depreciation of
Nigeria’s currency, the billionaires index shows. The bulk of his wealth is
tied up in Lagos-based Dangote Cement Plc, whose stock is down 4.7 percent this
year. An acquisition of the team would make him the first African owner of a
team in England’s Premier League.
“It’s not about buying Arsenal and just continuing with
business as usual,” he said. “It’s about buying Arsenal and turning it around.
I’ve run a very successful business and I think I can also run a very
successful team. Right now, with what we’re facing, over $20 billion of
projects, I cannot do both.”
While Arsenal has won 13 top flight league titles in
England, making it one of the country’s most successful sides, it’s last was in
2004.
Arsenal Holdings Plc, the owner, trades on the ICAP
Securities & Derivatives Exchange, or ISDX, and has a market capitalization
of 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion).
Stan Kroenke, worth $7 billion and owner of the National
Basketball Association’s Denver Nuggets, holds 67 percent of Arsenal Holdings,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Most English Premier League matches are broadcast live
in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, by Supersport, a satellite
television channel owned by South Africa’s Naspers Ltd.
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