Business
Dangote considers buying Nigeria’s oil fields
Dangote Cement, with a market capitalization of 3.9 trillion naira (US$24.6 billion), has 3 plants in Nigeria and is in the process of expanding the business in 13 other African countries, bringing total capacity to more than 50 million tons by 2016. The company is also expanding in Asia and has signed limestone mining rights in Indonesia and Nepal.
“The company’s intention to expand to Latin America will take some time to fully crystallize,” Tunde Abidoye, a Lagos-based equity analyst at FBN Capital Ltd., said in e-mailed comments. “Presently, the focus is more on its expansion across sub-Saharan Africa, due to the potentially higher margins and growth that can be achieved across the continent.”
Dangote will delay a planned listing of its cement company’s shares on the London Stock Exchange until at least next year when plants in countries including Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zambia are commissioned.
Dangote Cement’s shares closed 2.2 percent higher at 230 naira (US$1.44) by the market close in Lagos, increasing its gains for the month to 5 percent. The stock advanced 71 percent last year, outpacing the 47 percent gain of the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index.
Source: Bloomberg Business Week
