AFRICA'S richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote has revealed that he has bought English Premiership side Arsenal and is putting his Abuja mansion on sale for $30m to help pay for it.
Over recent years, Alhaji Dangote has made it clear that buying Arsenal, popularly known as the Gunners is one of his main investment goals in the UK. Valued at about $15bn by Forbes Magazine, Alhaji Dangote launch an unsuccessful bid to purchase a major stake in the club in 2010.
Alhaji Dangote has put his $30m mansion in Abuja for sale to move to the UK, pointing out that he wants to move abroad to be able to watch Arsenal play games. He is yet to reveal details of how much the deal cost or what percentage of Arsenal he has purchased under the arrangement.
Now, Alhaji Dangote is worth nearly eight times as much as he was when he tried to buy the team originally. Back in 2010 he wanted to purchase a holding in the Gunners when former director Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith was selling her stock but was not successful.
Arsenal’s current majority shareholder is American tycoon Stan Kroenke, who has a 66.64% holding in the company and remains committed to the club for the long term. Uzbek magnate Alisher Usmanov controls around 30% and has also expressed no desire to offload any of his shares.
Over the last 10 years, Arsenal has been a struggling club, unable to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United for the English Premier League. Arsenal's lack of deep pockets has meant his has been unable to put up any serious challenge with regards to the Premiership title.
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