Africa’s richest billionaire, Aliko Dangote is consolidating his cement businesses across Africa into one company that will have the scale and resources to compete globally, he told reporters in Tanzania.
Dangote said he plans to list on London and Johannesburg stock exchanges in the near future.
Dangote Cement, listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in October 2010, is now the largest listed company in Nigeria and West Africa. “That was part of our strategy,” he said. “We plan list in London and Johannesburg in the near future.”
In August, Dangote cement signed a deal valued at $4.34 billion with the Chinese government to build 10 new cement plants across Africa, and one in Nepal. The new projects will have a combined capacity of 25 million metric tonnes per year.
By the time they’re completed, Dangote Cement will be capable of producing 81 million metric tonnes of cement per year. “This will make us one of the largest cement companies in the world,” Dangote said.
Dangote is featured in numerous Forbes-list rankings including No. 67 on a list of the World’s Billionaires in 2015, No. 1 of Africa’s 50 Richest and No. 68 on a list of Powerful People in 2014.
Dangote isn’t the largest cement producer in Africa. With 50 million tons a year of cement capacity, Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim is the largest producer in continental Africa, according to Bloomberg.
