Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is planning to list Dangote Cement Plc on the London Stock Exchange this year in a move aimed at securing a dual listing for the company valued at nearly $13 billion.
Dangote disclosed the plan in an interview with the Financial Times, stating that the cement giant intends to sell about 10% of its shares to outside investors as part of the secondary listing in the United Kingdom.
Dangote Cement Plc, which reported a profit before tax of N421.1 billion for Q1 2026, has flirted with the idea of listing in London as far back as 2018 but has not been able to due to stringent listing requirements and distractions linked to the construction of the company’s massive refinery project in Nigeria.
Recent overhauling of listing rules by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has made the UK market more attractive for Africa’s richest man.
Dangote, whose refinery operating in Lagos is the biggest in Africa, while noting that he has entered the “busiest period” of his life after turning 69 on April 10, said the company has now decided on a dual listing.
He added that recent reforms in the UK market had revived the company’s confidence in pursuing the listing, which could take place around September this year, depending on market conditions and investor demand.
The renewed push for listing in the UK comes against the backdrop of very strong financial performance for the cement company, the largest in Africa.
A London listing could provide a major boost to the attractiveness of the UK’s stock exchange, which has struggled in recent years to attract major global listings amid competition from markets in the United States and Europe.
The move could also potentially lift Dangote’s net worth further after it already increased by $5.4 billion so far this year to about $35.4 billion, according to Bloomberg estimates.
The move to list abroad appears to align with the larger expansion strategy of Dangote Group, which has also unveiled plans to list the Dangote Refinery, a 650,000 barrels-per-day facility, on multiple African exchanges.
All these are amid plans to scale up refinery output from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day, a move that could make it the largest refinery globally upon completion.
