Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has confirmed plans to list the group’s fertiliser business in 2028, as the conglomerate seeks to bring more investors into its businesses.
Dangote disclosed this during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum recently, noting that the fertiliser business would be taken public as part of efforts to expand ownership across the group.
‘We will IPO it. It’s going to be the biggest fertiliser company on earth,’ he said.
Asked when the listing would take place, Dangote said, ‘Yes, it will be 2028.’
The confirmation provides the latest public timeline for the proposed listing of the fertiliser business.
Dangote Fertiliser operates a $2.5 billion fertiliser plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, with an annual production capacity of about three million tonnes of urea.
Dangote said the group is seeking to bring more investors into its businesses, after historically operating its ventures without partners.
‘We have actually everything we do by ourselves. We don’t have partners. But that’s why we are now looking for all these massive number of people to now become our partners,’ he said.
His comments come as the ongoing initial public offering of Dangote Petroleum Refinery has drawn strong interest from Nigerian retail investors.
The refinery’s share offer, marketed as the ‘people’s IPO’, has also triggered a wave of social media jokes from new shareholders portraying themselves as co-owners and executives of the business.
Acknowledging the trend during the interview, Dangote joked that the new shareholders had been calling for a board meeting.
‘You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting,’ he said.
The fertiliser IPO would give investors another opportunity to take stakes in one of Dangote Group’s major businesses, following the refinery’s recent move to open its ownership to the public.