Africa’s richest businessman Aliko Dangote says he is planning a bid to buy Arsenal. <\/p>\n
The Nigerian billionaire believes the building of an oil refinery in his homeland will give him the finance to secure a takeover.<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old, who has an estimated wealth of \u00a311.5bn, says he has supported the Gunners since the 1980s.<\/p>\n
“When we get this refinery on track, I will have enough time and enough resources to pay what they are asking for,” he told BBC Hausa. <\/p>\n
American Stan Kroenke is Arsenal’s majority shareholder, owning 66.64 percent of the club’s parent company Arsenal Holdings plc.<\/p>\n
Russian-Uzbek Alisher Usmanov owns 29.11 percent with the remainder of the 62,217 shares held by minority shareholders including former players and the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, who own three.<\/p>\n
Dangote is ranked 67th on the Forbes rich list but he’s Africa’s current richest.<\/p>\n
He had previously been interested in purchasing the 15.9 percent stake sold to Kroenke for \u00a3123m by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith in April 2011 only to pull out.<\/p>\n
“There were a couple of us who were rushing to buy, and we thought with the prices then, the people who were interested in selling were trying to go for a kill.<\/p>\n
“We backtracked, because we were very busy doing other things, especially our industrialisation,” he said.<\/p>\n
Dangote believes Arsenal require a different ownership in order to be more successful on the pitch.<\/p>\n
“They are doing well, but they need another strategic direction. They need more direction than the current situation, where they just develop players and sell them,” he said.<\/p>\n
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