Dreams Comes true................As Billionaire TY Danjuma Pays Whopping N1bn For His Dream Hotel In London
The revered oxford
dictionary described wish list as “a list of desired things or occurrences.”
And such is how one can describe the present state of mind of billionaire Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, as he is now the chief
pilot of the prestigious hotel called The Kings Arms Hotel
The 300-year-old inn
next to London’s Hampton Court Palace, is now owned by Nigeria’s former
Minister of Defense TY Danjuma, and is
now poised to open soon after refurbishment, a Bloomberg
publication announced last night.
The 80-year-old
Danjuma, who is worth $1.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires
Index, paid 2.4 million pounds (N1.096bn) for the 14-room Kings Arms Hotel two
years ago. Rooms cost about 250 pounds ($318) a night. The retired military
general made a fortune from an oil block awarded to him in 1998 by the regime
of late General Sani Abacha.
Beyond the U.K., the
Danjumas own real estate in California and have bought and sold property in
Singapore. Their family office also oversees private equity investments, trust
funds and a venture capital arm that backs family-run art and film companies.
The Danjumas own more than 30 properties worldwide, filings show. In addition
to the Kings Arms Hotel, the Danjumas have developed residential properties
this year in Esher and Wimbledon.
They also own a
boutique hotel in Lagos, serving beef carpaccio and lobster bisque in one of
three dining areas and displaying works from the family’s art firm. “We invest
in real estate in other jurisdictions, but in the U.K.
we always thought let’s stick to areas that we know,” said daughter Hannatu Gentles, the second of Danjuma’s five children and chief operating officer of his London-based family office. Danjuma also pledged to give away $100 million through his foundation, with recent donations aimed at improving vision care, literacy rates and rural farming.
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