Dangote wants to buy Arsenal

AFRICA’S richest man, Aliko Dangote, has expressed interest in becoming the owner of English top flight giants, Arsenal FC.

But the plan to buy the North London club is not an immediate priority for the Nigerian billionaire, as he hopes he can convince the owners to sell "at the right price" in the future.

The Nigerian, who has invested massively in Tanzania, said he is ready to offer the owners of Arsenal "a price they won't want to resist."

“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,” Dangote told Bloomberg. The tycoon in cement and commodities, explained that he wants to focus on his business having invested around $16 million into it, and will make another attempt at pricing Arsenal away by the time he builds his business empire to "a certain level." “We have $16 billion-worth of investments in the next few years.

Right now I want to take my own business to a certain level. Once I finish on that trajectory, then maybe (an offer will follow). "

In 2010, Dangote had made attempts to acquire a stake in the English club but discussions broke down. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote is worth three times more than the current major shareholder at Arsenal, Stan Kroenke.

Kroenke, who holds 67 per cent of Arsenal, is reportedly worth $5.6 billion while Dangote is valued at $15.7 billion. But Dangote will have to convince Kroenke to give up his 67 per cent shares of Arsenal as well as 30 per cent owned by Red and White Sec Limited under the control of Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri.

In 2013, Dangote Cement Plc invested 500 million USD in a new three million ton plant for Tanzania's cement industry, in a deal that signalled new business relationship between Nigeria and Tanzania.

The Nigerian tycoon is also set to invest in developing the Mbinga Coal Mine in Tanzania to power the Mtwara cement plant.

Dangote is expecting that the coal from the mine will be used to power the Mtwara cement plant located in the same region of the country, adding that the coal was to also be utilised to finance transportation of cement across the borders of Tanzania.