Billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, has announced plans to list his group’s fertiliser business on the stock exchange in 2028, as he joked about the growing number of Nigerians claiming ownership of his businesses on social media.
Dangote, President of Dangote Group, disclosed the timeline during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum on Sunday while discussing plans to bring more investors into the group.
He said the group had traditionally operated without partners but was now seeking to expand its ownership base through public offerings.
“No, 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.
Dangote also reacted to the social media trend surrounding the ongoing initial public offering of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, where new retail investors have jokingly portrayed themselves as co-owners of the refinery.
“You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting,” he said.
The remark followed a wave of memes and humorous posts by Nigerians who bought the minimum of 10 shares in the refinery’s IPO, which has been marketed as a “people’s IPO”.
Some investors have shared certificates bearing titles such as “chief investment officer” and “co-founder and partner”, while others have posted jokes about monitoring the refinery’s performance and holding meetings with Dangote.
On the group’s fertiliser business, Dangote confirmed that it would also be taken to the public market.
“Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, we will IPO it. It’s going to be the biggest fertilizer company on earth,” he said.
Asked when the listing would take place, he replied, “Yes, it will be 2028.”
Dangote Fertiliser currently operates a $2.5bn plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, with an annual production capacity of about three million tonnes of urea.
The group plans to raise its fertiliser production capacity to about 12 million tonnes annually by 2028, including through expansion in Nigeria and a proposed plant in Ethiopia.
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