Dangote jokes over shareholder memes, announces 2028 fertilizer IPO

By Samuel Omotere

Africa’s richest man and founder of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has acknowledged the viral calls by new Nigerian shareholders for a “board meeting” and confirmed that the group plans to take its fertilizer business public in 2028.

Dangote made the remarks 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, he said, “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 numbers of people to now become our partners.”

He then acknowledged the social media trend among Nigerians who recently bought shares in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, joking 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,” Dangote said.

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

Retail investors who bought the minimum of 10 shares have taken to social media to portray 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 checking the refinery’s performance or holding virtual meetings with Dangote.

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

However, when asked about plans for an IPO for the group’s fertiliser business, Dangote confirmed that the company would also be listed.

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

Pressed on the timeline, Dangote said, “Yes, it will be 2028.”

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

The group has also outlined plans to expand its fertilizer 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 fertilizer business among the world’s largest urea producers.

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

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