Business
Dangote looking to invest $7.5 billion in massive expansion
Founder and CEO of the Dangote Group., Aliko Dangote. PHOTO/File
(Reuters) – Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said his conglomerate needed to spend US$7.5 billion over the next four years to expand operations in a range of sectors.
“We are going into something big. We are going into mining, petrochemicals, cement and infrastructure,” he said on Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
“We need to spend US$7.5 billion in the next four years. So, definitely, we need a lot of concentration.”
Dangote said this changing focus was one of the reasons he was looking for a partnership for his flour business, Dangote Flour Mills, with Tiger Brands, South Africa’s biggest consumer foods maker.
“We are actually trying to have a partnership between us and Tiger Brands,” he said. “We believe they are much better than us in terms of the retail business.”
Banking and company sources have told Reuters Tiger Brands was bidding for an 80 percent stake in Dangote Flour Mills, which makes pasta and flour in Africa’s most populous country.
Buying all or part of Dangote Flour Mills would give the maker of bread, breakfast cereal and energy drinks a substantial presence in the Nigerian food market. Dangote said a deal was about partnership, not offloading assets.
