This year, Nigeria adds a new
billionaire Mike Adenuga, and
sees Aliko Dangote ’s fortune
skyrocket.
Alike Dangote
In the past year Aliko Dangote’s
fortune surged 557% to $13.8
billion, up from $2.1 billion, after
he consolidated all his public and
private cement holdings
throughout Africa into the
continent ’s largest cement
manufacturer and took it public
on the Nigerian stock exchange
in October. Dangote Cement now
has a market value in excess of
$13 billion, and accounts for a
quarter of the Nigeria Stock
Exchange’s total market
capitalization.
The dearth of native suppliers to
meet increasing cement demand
is driving the stock price.
Dangote projects demand at 72
million metric tons and growing
because of the drive to build
infrastructure in Nigeria, Africa’s
most populated nation, as well as
other countries; current supply is
67 million metric tons, a shortfall
of 5 million metric tons.
For perspective, he is now richer
than longtime white South
African billionaires Nicky
Oppenheimer of Debeers and
Johann Rupert of luxury goods
group Richemont, which owns
Cartier, Dunhill and other
premium brands.
For now he’s gearing up to
introduce Dangote Cement to
foreign investors. Companies
listed on the Nigerian stock
exchange are required to have a
minimum free float of 25%,
Dangote initially listed 5% of
shares. According to analysts at
Thaddeus Investment Advisors,
the Nigerian market is too
shallow for a stock of Dangote
Cement ’s size to be listed on the
exchange; this is why the
balance of the free float will be
listed outside of Nigeria.
Dangote, who recently bought
himself a $45 million Bombardier
aircraft for his birthday, has been
shuttling back and forth to
London for months, in
anticipation of a public offering
in London later this year.
He is certainly one to watch. After
a lucrative career in trading,
Dangote ventured into
manufacturing pasta, salt, sugar,
and flour in 1997, in part
encouraged by the policies of
former president Olusegun
Obasanjo. Eventually Dangote
went from importing and
rebagging cement to production
as well; he was awarded the
government ’s then state-owned
cement business and began
building his own plant in 2003.
Cement revenue which has been
primarily based on imports grew
15% a year between 2001 and
2005; once the Obajana plant
was fully operational in 2007,
revenue quadrupled; in fiscal
2009 revenue was $1.2 billion.
Dangote Cement now owns three
cement plants and two
terminals in Nigeria where he
both produces and still imports
cement. The Obajana plant is
Dangote ’s largest to date and
controls the largest market share
in Nigeria; Dangote terminals at
Lagos and Port-Harcourt have the
highest import quotas of all local
companies. With additional
capacity coming on line this year,
total capacity is expected to
reach 26 million metric tons by
the end of 2011. (also helping
boost profits: Dangote ’s newly
combined entity is tax exempt
through 2017.)
But he won’t stop there. Dangote
has started building investments
in cement plants and terminals
across Africa including Senegal,
Zambia, Tanzania, Congo,
Ethiopia, Cameroun, Sierra Leone,
Ivory Coast, Liberia and Ghana.
Mike Adenuga
Meanwhile his compatriot Mike
Adenuga who founded
Globacom, the mobile, fixed,
broadband, and international
gateway carrier, joins Forbes ’
billionaires list with a net worth
of $2 billion. Globacom launched
services in Nigeria in 2005, in the
Republic of Benin in 2008 and
has licences to operate in Ghana
and Cote d ’Ivoire (with Togo and
Senegal next). He took a big
gamble laying a $1 billion
undersea fibre optic cable, Glo-1,
to link Africa with the rest of the
world. (partnered with Alcatel-
Lucent) The connection will help
lower prices for customers as
well as help Adenuga expand
more quickly. www.mobile.forbes.com/webkit/index.php#_home