Dangote offered East African countries 30% stake in planned refinery, says Kenyan president’s economic adviser
David Ndii, chairman of the Kenyan president’s council of economic advisors, says Dangote Group has offered East African countries a 30 percent equity stake in his planned refinery in the region.
According to a Bloomberg report on Friday, Ndii said Kenya’s 10 percent stake would be worth about $500 million.
Speaking at a capital markets forum in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, on Thursday, Ndii said Ethiopia and Rwanda have already expressed interest in the project.
He said Dangote’s plan for the refinery includes offering equity stakes to Kenya and other East African countries.
The total for the region is about $1.5 billion,” the economic adviser said.
“I don’t actually see a challenge in doing that, and if some of them are not off-taking we will backstop.”
On April 23, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group, said the company plans to replicate its 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Nigerian refinery in East Africa with support from governments in the region.
Mohammed Dewji, Tanzanian billionaire and president of MeTL Group, on July 1, said he was willing to invest $100 million in Dangote’s proposed refinery in Kenya as the Nigerian industrialist seeks to expand his refining business into East Africa.
The Dangote refinery intends to launch a Pan-African initial public offering (IPO), selling at least 10 percent of the refining business to fund a $40 billion growth vision.
On August 18, the refinery said it had completed a $1 billion underwriting programme ahead of its planned IPO.