(Bloomberg) — Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, plans a stock listing for his Nigerian crude oil refinery by the end of next year to widen the company’s investor base.
The billionaire also plans this year to list the group’s urea plant, which has a capacity to produce 2.8 million tons of the crop nutrient per annum, Dangote told the African Export-Import Bank’s annual general meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on June 27.
The oil facility can processes 650,000 barrels of crude a day, making it the continent’s biggest refinery.
Nigeria’s downstream regulator and fuel marketers have accused Dangote of seeking to become a monopoly with his new refinery.
A listing — through an initial public offering — could help woo investors including state-owned pension funds.
The $20 billion Dangote Refinery outside the commercial hub Lagos, which became operational last year, currently produces aviation fuel, naphtha, diesel and gasoline.
Monopoly accusation
It’s “important to list the refinery so that people will not be calling us a monopoly,” Dangote said. “They will now say we have shares, so let everybody have a part of it.”
The tycoon, who had planned to start construction of a 5,000 ton steel plant after completing the refinery, last year scrapped the proposal because of the allegations.
Dangote earlier this year said his group is on track to generate total revenue of $30 billion in 2026. On Friday, he said that the company plans to surpass Qatar as the world’s biggest exporter of urea within four years.
The facility currently exports 37% of its output to the U.S.
