NIGERIAN BUSINESSMAN ALIKO Dangote has hinted he could buy Arsenal in 2021, if a number of multi-billion dollar projects for his company are completed on time.
The 62-year-old founded the Dangote Group — the largest conglomerate in West Africa — in 1981, which deals with the manufacturing and production of a number of consumer goods including sugar, cement, rice, flour and fisheries.
Dangote has a net worth of more than £8.5 billion (€10b) and has been heavily linked with a takeover at Arsenal in the past, with the club currently owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.
Stan Kroenke is the majority shareholder at Emirates Stadium, but Dangote could be in a position to buy him out by next year, with his company set to begin the production of the largest single-train refinery in the world later this year in Lekki, Lagos State.
Africa’s richest man is concentrating on that business venture at the moment, but says he plans to buy Arsenal when the Dangote refinery is finished.
“It is a team that, yes, I would like to buy someday, but what I keep saying is we have $20 billion (£15 billion) worth of projects and that’s what I really want to concentrate on,” Dangote told the David Rubenstein Show.