ONE of Nigeria’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, Mike Adenuga Jnr, together with three others is said to be in a consortium of Nigerians lining up a bid for Newcastle United, an announcement is expected later today.
Mike Adenuga Jnr, who owns 100% of Globacom and has interests in real estate, the Equatorial Trust Bank and Conoil. Globacom serves 18-million subscribers, making it Nigeria’s largest operator after MTN. It also runs networks in Benin and Ghana.
“Mike is a businessman and loves soccer. He is already sponsoring the Nigerian league and it’s not unusual for him to have an interest in a team like Newcastle,” said a source from London
When pressed by ITnewsAfrica.com to confirm whether the other partners are in the telecoms industry as well, the source said, “Let’s wait for the official announcement.”
Journal Live reported today that football agent Chris Nathaniel, of NVA Management, is fronting the consortium of businessmen from the West African country.
“We’re at the stage now where our end are doing the relevant security checks on the individuals who have the money,” Nathaniel, who is coordinating the bid, said. “We have a lawyer here who is doing those checks before finally submitting a bid to Newcastle.”
Nigerian media reports have said the consortium – whose members remain a closely guarded secret – have come up with 350 million pounds so far but want to find an additional 100-150 million to secure the deal
Newcastle United have fallen foul of the fans after Keegan resigned saying he did not have full control over the buying and selling of players, Reuters said.
Nathaniel said that until the British lawyers had finalised their checks and drawn up the paperwork, it was difficult to say exactly how much money had been put forward. “We don’t know is the honest answer. We’re not going to know that until it’s lodged with the lawyers here,” he said.
