18 June 2015, News Wires – Nigerian oil billionaire Aliko Dangote is reportedly on the acquisition trail as he eyes one field in particular – a lucrative field in north London.
The head of a conglomerate that also deals in sugar, cement, banking and real estate wants to make a bid for English Premier League club Arsenal, the BBC reported on its Hausa language website.
Dangote, said by Forbes magazine to be the richest person in Africa with a worth of $14.7 billion, is waiting to get a refinery project up and running in Nigeria before launching a bid to buy the current FA Cup holders, according to the BBC.
“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.
Dangote, said to be a long-time fan of the team known as the Gunners, previously tried to make a move on the club, but instead a majority stake went to US sports tycoon Stan Kroenke.
“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,” Dangote told the BBC of his previous courting of the London outfit.
“We backtracked, because we were very busy doing other things, especially our industrialisation.”
In April last year, Dangote announced $9 billion in financing from a consortium to fund the construction of a refinery, fertiliser and petrochemicals complex in Nigeria.
This April the Dangote Group launched a joint venture – Saipem Dangote E&C – with Italian contractor Saipem, focusing on the Nigerian and Central and West African markets.
Forbes lists Dangote as the 67th richest person in the world.
– Upstream