Ibrahim, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Fleet, an oil servicing company, dismissed claims by Dangote in a recent interview with our sister publication, Saturday Sun that he (Dangote) is a billionaire, saying no Nigerian businessman is a billionaire in the true sense of the word.
In the first of the two part serial in Saturday Sun, Dangote had said: “ I wouldn’t call myself the richest man in Africa. I would allow Forbes magazine to say so. But I have seen them saying that Oprah Winfrey is the richest black person in the world, and she is worth $1.5 billion. I think by the grace of God, I am much, much richer than her.”
But reacting to this claim, the NICON boss said: “Which billionaires? Myself? Femi? Aliko? There’s no billionaire among all of us. We owe banks. Have we finished paying our debts? If you have not finished paying your debts and you are celebrating that you are a billionaire, what useless billionaire? We borrow money from the banks to trade. We created this heavy debt portfolio in the banks and we’ve got to pay this money back to the banks so that the young entrepreneurs can come and borrow too.
“Let’s stop embarrassing the public. Nobody is a billionaire. You borrow money, you have not finished paying and you’re looking at you assets vis-à-vis your debts. You’re having assets that are not producing anything. Some people have assets that are worth N100 billion that have not produced anything in the last ten years. What useless asset is that one? Honestly, with due respect, apart from the old people - the Ibrus, the Dantatas and all these old elderly people - we haven’t got billionaires in our generation yet.”
The Ondo State-born business mogul also revealed the high-wire intrigues that saw him lose out in his bid to acquire shares of African Petroleum (AP) despite having 53 filling stations to Otedola of Zenon Oil and Gas who owns only four stations.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2007/july/29/national-29-07-2007-001.htm

jimoh sounds like a fool. but his mentalit represents what is parroted in the nigerian media all the time, about debt being a bad thing. so i guess bill gates owes no one money. idiot

thank you my brother.

financial worth = total assets - total liabilities.

Dangote does not know this!

Calling Mr Jimoh an idiot without looking at his facts is shear ignorance. How can Dangote say that he is worth over $1.5 billion without stating his gross? Oprah’s net worth is about $1.5 billion dollars not her gross worth. I know for sure that Donald Trump claims that he is worth more than where Forbes ranks him, but the onus is on Trump to prove Forbes wrong. You cannot say that you are worth more than Oprah when your debt is very high. Tell us how much you owe and your worth, and then we can do the math.

I tire for people ooo. Jimoh is 100% correct, you don't owe banks N100B and claim that you are worth N120B simply because you have some N20B somewhere and this is common sense.

That is why I claim that the US is a poor country. It is indebted to the tune of $7Trillion as at 3 years ago and still borrowing.

Nigeria, with all the magomago in our foreign debt never owed more than $30B.

If I don't owe a bank N1 then I am richer than my friend that is owing a bank N5. Mathematics and economics can't be simpler than this.

Have we not seen banks seize properties of so called rich men when they die and the debt can't be settled?

Jimoh sounds very bitter and appears to have a personal score to settle with Dangote - he
actually sounded very ignorant. What is this nonsense about "intellectuals" he kept
talking about? What has that got to do with anything? I am sure Dangote is smart enough
to figure out his net worth, he doesn't need a "barrister" to tell him that.

Here is a hint:
As of today (July 30, 2007), the closing price for Dangote Sugar was N37.30 Dangote owns
close to about 7billion shares - give or take. That translates to about N261billion or $2billion.
Lets go a step further. Assuming his shares in Dangote Sugar is down to a "mere" 3.5billion
shares, that will still put put him at about $1billion. Dangote owns a few companies partly
financed by banks, but he will still come out on top if you take away the debts from the total
value of the companies. Now, add that to the $2billion or $1billion mentioned earlier and you
can begin to get the picture.

If Jimoh is feeling inadequate, he needs to take some of his companies public that way they can
be "over-valued" like Dangote's. If you ask me, Dangote's managerial style appears to be more
in tune with the way modern businesses are run while Jimoh is still running an "its all about me"
show and he is running around proclaiming himself to be an intellectual. I have read a few of his
interviews in the past and when it comes to the issue of acquiring public properties, its always
OKAY when he does it but not so for others.

Yeah, this Jimoh guy sounds like a bitter loser. "I owe tons of money, I'm not a billionaire, so Dangote cannot be because I'm sure he also owes money like I do." Oh the powers of retarded logic.

Some of you guys are funny. You really think Dangote somehow became as rich as he is without knowing the difference between assets and net worth?

Iyke-D

What was the closing price of Microsoft today? So Bill Gates owns all Microsoft stocks? Does Dangote own all the stocks of Dangote Sugar with liabilities? I believe that the most capitalized stock in Naija is NB Plc which is partly owned by Heineken with a huge debt portfolio, It’s foolhardy to infer that Dangote has a lot of money and does source for funds from capital markets. International Finance Corporation invested about $75 million in Obajana Cemebt factory. He needs to separate his gross worth from his net worth. There is no way Dangote can build a mega factory without external capital inflow. If Forbes did not list Dr Mo Ibrahim, founder of CELTEL who sold the company for $ 3.4 billion. Who is Dangote to say that he is richer than Oprah? I thought Soludization of Nigerian banks had shown to Nigerians that there had not been mega banks in Nigeria and as such, Dangote cannot be richer than top tier banks in Nigeria.

@adconline

Iyke-D

What was the closing price of Microsoft today? So Bill Gates owns all Microsoft stocks? Does Dangote own all the stocks of Dangote Sugar with liabilities? I believe that the most capitalized stock in Naija is NB Plc which is partly owned by Heineken with a huge debt portfolio, It’s foolhardy to infer that Dangote has a lot of money and does source for funds from capital markets. International Finance Corporation invested about $75 million in Obajana Cemebt factory. He needs to separate his gross worth from his net worth. There is no way Dangote can build a mega factory without external capital inflow. [b]If Forbes did not list Dr Mo Ibrahim, founder of CELTEL who sold the company for $ 3.4 billion. Who is Dangote to say that he is richer than Oprah? [/b]I thought Soludization of Nigerian banks had shown to Nigerians that there had not been mega banks in Nigeria and as such, Dangote cannot be richer than top tier banks in Nigeria.

If you take the time to re-read my piece you will see I never made any claim that he owned 100% shares of Dangote Sugar Refinery. When Dangote
Sugar was listed on the market a few months ago, it has very little or no debt as of then - google for a Dangote Sugar Refinery prospetus that may
still be laying around and you can source some of that info from there. Yes, the IFC and local banks will give you credit facilities for a project but you
must still come up with your down payment.

Dangote Flour which may be going public soon was valued at about $500million, I haven't seen the prospectus so I can't comment much on its debt portfolio but its safe to bet that its "manageable" or of not much significance otherwise the IPO won't hold much of an attraction. Do the math for
each of the companies he owns and you can begin to see the picture(that is if you will allow yourself). He wouldn't be Aliko Dangote if he didn't know
the difference between assets and liabilities (net worth).

f Forbes did not list Dr Mo Ibrahim, founder of CELTEL who sold the company for $ 3.4 billion. Who is Dangote to say that he is richer than Oprah?

About this statement you made, what sense does that really make? So because Dr Mo Ibrahim was not ranked as being richer than Oprah then
Dangote couldn't possibly be richer than her?

maybe mo ibrahim was not listed because forbes is allergic to listng very rich black people, unless they have little choice. forbes used to list tiger woods as asian. its a magazine that will do all it can to say blacks arent making it.

by the way this is the world's richest black man. $8bn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Al_Amoudi

he is saudi citizen, but born in ehtiopia

all of you agreeing wih jimoh that dangote may be owing ,how does jimoh know that dangote is owin is he his accountant or his BFF to know all that.he prolly thinks everybody is like him owin here nd there.
these days wat is billion to this guys?honestly i will be surprise if nobody in nigeria is a billonaire nd i mean in hard currency be it a politiciian or businessman,crook or hook . . . .

it is veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery possible that dangote is richer than oprah.nd for him to make that statement he may be ready to prove it.

^{but na wa for boasting}

_{Sugar was listed on the market a few months ago, it has very little or no debt as of then - google for a Dangote Sugar Refinery prospetus that may}

So money was never borrowed to build this refinery? So it just IPOed to raise some money and put them in the bank?

^{till be laying around and you can source some of that info from there.  Yes, the IFC and local banks will give you credit facilities for a project but you must still come up with your down payment} Which means that he has huge debt portfolio.

^{About this statement you made, what sense does that really make? So because Dr Mo Ibrahim was not ranked as being richer than Oprah then Dangote couldn't possibly be richer than her?}

Common sense tells you that Dr Mo Ibrahim made more money from selling CELTEL than your calculation of Dangote's worth  and yet  he does not make it to Forbes list even though he is involved in a multi billion dollar business. I think that with Dr Mo  Ibrahim's achievement and connection he could have challenged Forbes if he is a billionaire.

As per not listing the guy from Ethiopia, Mittal steel is listed as a Brit not as an Indian on Forbes

someone is just getting tired of not getting favours from the govt or he's simply being played out of the market-he's not doing too bad himself i wonder why he's being personal i think its a Nigerian thing- mine is better than yours syndrome

adconline:

_{Sugar was listed on the market a few months ago, it has very little or no debt as of then - google for a Dangote Sugar Refinery prospetus that may}

So money was never borrowed to build this refinery? So it just IPOed to raise some money and put them in the bank?

^{till be laying around and you can source some of that info from there.  Yes, the IFC and local banks will give you credit facilities for a project but you must still come up with your down payment} Which means that he has huge debt portfolio.

^{About this statement you made, what sense does that really make? So because Dr Mo Ibrahim was not ranked as being richer than Oprah then Dangote couldn't possibly be richer than her?}

Common sense tells you that Dr Mo Ibrahim made more money from selling CELTEL than your calculation of Dangote's worth  and yet  he does not make it to Forbes list even though he is involved in a multi billion dollar business. I think that with Dr Mo  Ibrahim's achievement and connection he could have challenged Forbes if he is a billionaire.

As per not listing the guy from Ethiopia, Mittal steel is listed as a Brit not as an Indian on Forbes

nd u rily think this forbes people care enough to go billionaire huntin in africa lol . . . . .
nd who knows why he(Mo Ibrahim) sold that constant money makin machine, maybe he had huge debts somewhere nd prolly cannot account for the most part of the money now ^{i dunno,jst sayin}

There are South African and Egyptian billionaires on Forbes. Enough of this racism. I don’t know why Nigerians always play race card whenever they do not meet up to the benchmarks. We are over satisfied with little progress, that's why Zenith Bank was all over the airwaves because of their partnership with London stock exchange without telling us that Anglogold Ashanti of Ghana has been trading on New York Stock Exchange since 1998.

balderdash

u are comparing the ratings of egyptians nd south africans to naijans cheiya lmao . . . bet those southafricans were whiter than my ass oops that aint whyte ,my hair wen i am 90

@adconline

As at 30 June 2006, the Company had secured bank overdrafts in the ordinary course
of business amounting to N=105.8 million. However, the Company had no outstanding
debenture, mortgages, charges or similar indebtedness or contingent liabilities as at 30
June 2006.

The above was direct from Dangote Sugar Refinery abridged prospectus (page 3) - if money
was ever borrowed to build it, the above confirms that those debt have been settled.

Check this too:
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/money/2006/dec/14/money-14-12-2006-001.htm

Assuming the $250million used in building the refinery years ago was a loan and a penny of
the principal is yet to be paid back, his almost $2billion stake in the company is still greater
than $250million. Does that math make sense?


I read an interview he gave to Sun News a couple of years ago when he hinted that he
will be taking his companies public one at a time as the NSE may not be able to absorb
them at a single go - because the valuation put them at over N500billion! I honestly
thought it was a mis-print but as stated earlier his stake in Dangote Sugar alone is half
that amount as of today. I know its hard to imagine and it took me a while to grasp the
idea that this Dangote guy was possibly worth billions of dollars and some of us may
question how it all came to be, but it is the case.

Here is a summary - feel free to take it with a pinch of salt. . .
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/money/2006/sept/28/money-28-09-2006-003.htm

By the way, I believe Dr Mo of Celtel was originally from Sudan.

This Jimoh guy should just go and sleep.He sounds very bitter. even read in city people that there is beef btw him, dangote and otedola( dont know how true it is anyway).

someone is just getting tired of not getting favours from the govt or he's simply being played out of the market-he's not doing too bad himself i wonder why he's being personal i think its a Nigerian thing- mine is better than yours syndrome

You just nailed it.

Check this out: Africa's 18 richest men http://wetin-dey.com/music.php

Jimoh has an extremely valid point!!!

Jimoh is right. Never trust the value of Nigerian assets, simply because Nigeria is a country with great political risk and heavy accounting fraud.

If you look at Nigerian companies' balance sheets, you will see fantastic assets worth x amount of money. The truth is these assets are usually far less than they claim it to be.

It is not that difficult to see.

If i borrow $1billion from a bank Does that mean i am worth $1bn?

If the bank should come tomorrow for their money How much would I be left with.

So if your friend borrows you money you would count it as part of your asset.

Your balance sheet should show your asset less your liabilities

jimoh sounds like a fool. but his mentalit represents what is parroted in the nigerian media all the time, about debt being a bad thing. so i guess bill gates owes no one money. idiot

@obong
Some debt is bad just as long as you don't take too much that's why the US is in a mess right now. By the way, Microsoft has NO debt.

then nobody get money. Over here everybody borrow. everybody for here they own money . Look if we come nigeria and throw 2 million naira. when we come back we go come pay back. you can have a mastercard of $50,000. No be your money. if you ask me to produce 10 million naira, it is easy over here with good credit. but na borrow money. just walk to a bank and ask.

http://Nigeria.mooo.com

reading through this thread shows why nigeria is still the way it is,most of us never want to hear the truth and we ll rather shoot the messenger, jimoh ibrahim is doing what a normal "big man" in nigeria has never and will prolly never do,owing up that he is indebted to banks and saying the truth about dangote otedola and co and some ppl on here are saying he is bitter,for anyone flashing dangote financial profile pls drop it in the nearest bin because its nigeria we r talking about here, banks in nigeria made false and artificial financial projections pushing their shares up and defrauded several shareholders yet there was no investigations so there s no credibility behind any single document proving these guy's financial portfolio

tng:

This Jimoh guy should just go and sleep.He sounds very bitter. even read in city people that there is beef between him, dangote and otedola( don't know how true it is anyway).

dont have a knee jerk approach to people's comment,jimoh ibrahim is a very sucessful biz man in the same league as dangote and the rest and all he is doing is being truthful for a change something we dont see so called nigerian big men doing

dayokanu:

It is not that difficult to see.

If i borrow $1billion from a bank Does that mean i am worth $1bn?

If the bank should come tomorrow for their money How much would I be left with.

So if your friend borrows you money you would count it as part of your asset.

Your balance sheet should show your asset less your liabilities

But if you are borrowing 1 billion dollars from the bank, it would make sense that you only have 5 billion dollars in liquid or illiquid assets to stake as guarantee for the bank that you'd return their money. . .No?

I think several people here are comparing cash with wealth.

If you are borrowing X dollars from a bank, then you should be able to generate R returns with the amount borrowed such that the ending valuation for your project must be worth X + R .  it only makes sense that valuing Dangote's business will reveal some assets that are capable of generating far more than the amount borrowed from the bank.

The money collected from the bank is only to provide instant liquidity, but a total valuation of an individuals wealth must include the value of their assets and its return generating capacity. . .

MR A has 300 naira in a savings account

MR B borrows 300 naira and invests in an Ice block machine than nets 10 naira a day.

If you are asked today, which of them is wealthier?

adconline:

Iyke-D

What was the closing price of Microsoft today? So Bill Gates owns all Microsoft stocks? Does Dangote own all the stocks of Dangote Sugar with liabilities? I believe that the most capitalized stock in Naija is NB Plc

It used to be untill 2007 when the Zenith and First Banks of this world came with their POs,PPs etc and edged NB out.However,Dang cement is currently the most capiltalised on the exchange

Having his companies listed on the NSE was actually the best business decision Dangote made(I'm not his fan due to some of his ruthless and even mailgn approach to biz,but truth must be told)

Iyke-D:

Jimoh sounds very bitter and appears to have a personal score to settle with Dangote - he
actually sounded very ignorant. What is this nonsense about "intellectuals" he kept
talking about? What has that got to do with anything? I am sure Dangote is smart enough
to figure out his net worth, he doesn't need a "barrister" to tell him that.

[size=5pt]Does Jimoh know something we don't?cos based on Dangote's equity holdings in companies on the NSE,Jimoh is wrong and Dangote right

Even if one assumes that most of those equities are over-priced(which was generally the case pre-market crash,I recall a certain AP once traded for around N300 per share),at between N14 to N30 at which most of the companies in which Dangote has controlling shares are currently being traded,it's fair enough to say he's reight in his claims,except of course Jimoh or any other opposing nairalander is able to avail me a comprehensive list of Dangote's debt portfolio[/size]

BTW,in view of the fact that this thread was started in 2007,I guess the thread has been overtaken by events

I think Jimoh is displaying a sense of practical business person,

A borrower is a slave to the lender, Dangote owing banks makes him a packaged poor man in make believe,