Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest industrialist, has acquired a 25 percent stake in the Kenyan pipeline company, purchasing 4.5 billion shares for $335 million. Speaking at the FT Africa summit in London, Dangote pledged a further $1.5 billion to expand the network, calling his strategy "very aggressive." His company, Dangote Industries, operates the continent's largest refinery outside Lagos, which has been running at full capacity since the war started in Iran. An initial public offering for the refinery, expected to raise $2 billion and value the company at $50 billion, has been extended to the end of the month.
Dangote also announced plans to build a second 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, Kenya, and fuel storage tanks in Namibia that would triple the country's existing capacity. The Kenyan pipeline, spanning 1,300km, transports diesel, petrol and jet fuel from Mombasa to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Rwanda. In Namibia, Dangote plans a 330 million litre "tank farm" and a facility in Djibouti to supply Ethiopia.
Dangote rejected calls to invest in renewables, stating the conflict in Iran proved his oil strategy correct, and warned that protectionism would continue to gather force globally.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing