Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote reveals plans to pursue deals and acquisitions as his $40 billion refinery reaches new milestones, marking a significant shift in strategy towards expansion beyond organic growth.
Aliko Dangote has spent decades building his industrial empire through organic expansion. Now the Nigerian billionaire says the next chapter will include deals. Speaking to a Goldman Sachs delegation during a tour of his Lekki refinery and fertiliser complex on Wednesday, Dangote said the group must start looking beyond 2030 and be ready for new investments and acquisitions as it scales.
The visit was led by Anthony Gutman, co-chief executive of Goldman Sachs International and global co-head of investment banking, who came with senior colleagues to inspect the sprawling facility in Lagos. Dangote said the scale of the project could not be fully grasped from descriptions alone. The refinery and petrochemicals business was valued at about $40 billion in a private placement in July, and a public listing that could raise around $5 billion is now expected in the coming weeks.
That would mark a major milestone for a business that only began operating in early 2024. According to earlier reporting by Billionaires.Africa and Riotimes Online, the 650,000-barrels-a-day refinery has already reshaped Nigeria’s fuel market, helping the country become a net exporter of petroleum products for the first time in decades by March 2026. Dangote has also argued that private ownership makes outside estimates of his wealth unreliable, saying the refinery alone is worth more than $40 billion.
The latest comments also fit the wider ambitions of Dangote Industries. In April, the company set out a Vision 2030 plan aimed at reaching $100 billion in annual revenue, with growth expected to come from areas such as gas, mining, power and data centres. Acquisitions would represent a clear shift for Dangote, whose fortune was built largely through cement, sugar and refining rather than deal-making. Goldman Sachs did not announce a mandate after the visit, and no transaction was disclosed.
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