No buyer yet for Ashgold
A frantic search for a suitable entity to takeover AshantiGold Football Club has intensified in the past weeks after bids by two individuals were rejected.
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Mining giants AngloGold Ashanti, owners of the defending Premier League champions, have declared their intention to offload the club in a corporate quest to concentrate on their core business of mining.
The decision by the Obuasi-based firm to dispose of their interest in Ashgold is inspired by a general feeling among the directors of the company that even the parent company based in South African does not own a football club.
But according to Nana Ampofo Bekoe, a member of the board of directors of the company in charge of sustainability, only two individuals had submitted bids for the takeover since the mining firm invited individual and companies interested in the club.
However, he disclosed that none of the two qualified in terms of financial capacity and expertise qualified to take over the club.
“Even though we have not set a financial threshold for the prospective applicant, who wants to take over the club, we did approve of the two individuals because it was clear they did not have the capacity to take over the club,” Mr Bekoe said.
“Ashgold’s assets and brand are huge and any individual who wants to take control over them must have the capacity to do so.”
Mr Bekoe, who refused to name the individuals who submitted the bids to respect the confidentiality clause, disclosed that currently Anglogold Ashanti would continue to provide their regular investment of $25,000 a month for the running of the club until a new investor took over.
