Who is the Nigerian billionaire who wants to buy into Arsenal football club?

Aliko Dangote

One of Africa’s richest men is plotting to buy a stake in Arsenal in a move that could trigger a full-blown takeover battle for the Premier League football club.

Aliko Dangote, a billionaire Nigerian industrialist, is in talks to buy the 16% stake being sold by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, the club’s fourth-largest shareholder. Dangote is understood to have registered his interest in buying the holding with Blackstone, the American finance house that has been given the job of finding a buyer for the shares.

Bracewell-Smith’s stake is currently worth £96m, but she is seeking up to £160m for the shares. Her holding is key to the future ownership of the north London club.

Arsenal’s two biggest investors, Stan Kroenke, the American sports tycoon, and Alisher Usmanov, the Russian oligarch, are also contemplating buying the shares. If either of the two men were to buy the Bracewell-Smith holding, they would be forced to launch a full takeover offer for the club.

Arsenal, which has a market value of £606m, is one of a number of Premier League clubs that could change hands this summer. Liverpool’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have recently put their club up for sale.

Manchester United has attracted bid interest from a fan-based consortium that wants to wrest control from the Glazer family.

Dangote is a passionate football fan and has the wealth to compete with Kroenke and Usmanov. Forbes magazine recently ranked him among the world’s 500 richest people, with a fortune estimated at $2.5 billion (£1.7 billion). He has helped the Nigerian national football team with cash presents and has stood for the post of president of the Nigerian football association.

He recently celebrated his 53rd birthday with the purchase of an eight-seater Bombardier jet, regarded as one of the most sophisticated private planes in the world.

He is the founder of the Dangote Group, a manufacturing empire that started in the late 1970s as a cement importer and which now has interests ranging from sugar and flour to telecommunications and oil.

He is a close friend of Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Until recently he was the head of the Nigerian stock exchange but was forced to step down after falling out with Africa Petroleum, one of Nigeria’s biggest companies, which accused Dangote of manipulating its share price, a charge he has appealed against.

The Nigerian tycoon is thought to have made it on to a shortlist of about 10 investors, drawn up by Blackstone.

The holding was put up for sale earlier this year. It was inherited by Bracewell-Smith’s husband Sir Charles Bracewell-Smith and transferred to her name in 2005.

The stake has attracted interest from investors in Asia, the Middle East, eastern Europe and America. It is expected to be sold for about £15,000 a share, against a current market price of £10,000.

Sources close to Kroenke say he is the favourite to buy the holding. The American, who currently owns 29.9%, the largest single shareholding in the club, ultimately wants control and has told Blackstone he plans to bid.

Kroenke is also more popular with the Arsenal directors than Usmanov, who owns a 26% stake through his Red & White Holdings investment vehicle but has failed to gain a seat on the club’s board.

A buyer could be selected before the emergency budget on June 22, which is expected to put up capital gains tax on certain types of investment. A rise in the tax rate could cost Bracewell-Smith millions of pounds.

Foreign ownership of football clubs is under increased scrutiny because of the large debts many clubs have been saddled with after takeovers by foreign investors.

Some proprietors, such as Chelsea’s Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, have slashed debts recently while others — Aston Villa’s American owner Randy Lerner, for example — have striven to avoid becoming dependent on bank financing.

The sale of a stake in Arsenal, which is forecast to make a pre-tax profit this year of £56m, will not be helped by growing speculation that Cesc Fabregas, its star midfielder, could move to Barcelona this summer.

Both Arsenal and Blackstone declined to comment.

By Ben Marlow – Courtesy Timesonline

Man feels Woman pain.

A man wanted his wife to see how hard he worked for the family. He thinks his wife does not understand and wanted divine intervention.

He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed.

“Dear Lord:

I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home.

I want her to know what I go through.

So, please allow her body to switch with mine for a day.

Amen!”

God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man’s wish.

The next morning, sure enough, the man woke as a woman.

He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate,
awakened the kids,

Set out their school clothes,

Fed them breakfast,

Packed their lunches,

Drove them to school,

Came home and picked up the dry cleaning,

Took it to the cleaners

And stopped at the bank to make a deposit,

Went grocery shopping,

Then drove home to put away the groceries,

Paid the bills and balanced the cheque book.

He cleaned the cat’s litter box and bathed the dog.

Then, it was already1P.M.

And he hurried to make the beds,
Do the laundry, vacuum,

Dust,

And sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home.

Set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework.

Then, set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.

At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the pork chops and snapped fresh beans for supper.

After supper,

He cleaned the kitchen,

Ran the dishwasher,

Folded laundry,

Bathed the kids,

And put them to bed..

At 09 P.M .

He was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren’t finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.

The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said: -
“Lord, I don’t know what I was thinking.

I was so wrong to envy my wife’s being able to stay home all day.

Please, oh! Oh! Please, let us trade back.

Amen!”

The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied:

“My son, I feel you have learnt your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were.
You’ll just have to wait nine months, though..

You got pregnant last night.”

This has been voted Women’s Favourite E-mail of the Year!

 

If you agree, notify all your friends of this post in JSD.

God bless you for reading.

The Mayonnaise Jar

The Mayonnaise Jar with its elements

 

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, When 24  hours in a day is not enough; remember the mayonnaise jar.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and  had some items in front of him..

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and starts to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.  They agreed that it was.

 

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.

The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

 

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table
and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions. Things that if everything else was lost
and  only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else – The small stuff.

 

 

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued,’there is no room for the pebbles or the golf  balls.

The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy  on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that  are important to you.

 

So…

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Wholeheartedly worship your God.  Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups.  Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

‘Take care of the golf balls first –  The things that really  matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.

‘I’m glad you asked’.

It just goes to show you that  no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’

 

 

Please share this with other “Golf Balls”

I just did……

Photograph Courtesy of Elementary Teacher blogger.