Dangote announces 2028 IPO for fertiliser business

Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has confirmed that the group plans to take its fertiliser business public in 2028, while joking about the viral social media posts by new shareholders of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery calling for a “board meeting.”

Dangote disclosed this during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum on Sunday while discussing the ownership structure of his businesses and plans to bring more investors into the group.

Speaking about the prospect of having more shareholders, Dangote said the group had traditionally operated without partners but was now seeking to broaden its ownership.

“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 acknowledged the social media trend among Nigerians who recently acquired shares in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, joking about their claims of becoming co-owners of the business.

“You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting,” Dangote said.

His comment comes amid a wave of memes and humorous posts on social media following the ongoing initial public offering of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has been marketed as a “people’s IPO.”

Retail investors who purchased the minimum 10 shares have posted memes and videos portraying themselves as co-owners and newly appointed executives of the refinery.

Some Nigerians have shared certificates bearing their photographs and titles such as “chief investment officer” and “co-founder and partner,” while others have posted videos joking about monitoring the refinery’s performance or holding virtual meetings with Dangote.

The “board meeting” joke has also featured prominently in the online conversations surrounding the share offer.

On plans to take the group’s fertiliser business public, Dangote confirmed that the company would also be listed.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, we will IPO it. It’s going to be the biggest fertilizer company on earth,” he said.

Asked about the timeline, Dangote replied, “Yes, it will be 2028.”

Dangote Fertiliser operates a $2.5bn fertiliser plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, with an annual production capacity of about three million tonnes of urea.

The group has also outlined plans to increase its fertiliser production capacity to about 12 million tonnes annually by 2028, including the expansion of its Nigerian operations and a proposed plant in Ethiopia.

Dangote has previously said the expansion would position the fertiliser business among the world’s largest urea producers.

The confirmation of the 2028 IPO provides the latest public timeline given by Dangote for the proposed listing of the fertiliser business.

The development comes as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s IPO continues to attract interest from Nigerian retail investors, opening ownership of the refinery to members of the public.