Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, is eyeing a secondary listing for Dangote Cement on the London Stock Exchange, with September as the target date.
The plan involves selling roughly 10% of the company's shares to outside investors. Based on its current valuation on the Lagos Stock Exchange, that puts the business at close to $13 billion — serious money by any measure.
This isn't a new idea. Dangote has been mulling a London listing for somewhere between seven and ten years. What's changed is the environment. Recent reforms to the UK's listing rules by the Financial Conduct Authority have made the move significantly more practical. Citigroup, JPMorgan and Standard Bank are already on board as advisers, though the final call will hinge on market conditions and how much appetite investors actually show.
For London, the timing matters. The city's capital markets have had a rough few years competing against the gravitational pull of US exchanges, and several major listings expected in 2026 have already been pushed back. A deal of this size would be a genuine shot in the arm.
Beyond the listing, Dangote Cement has bigger ambitions. The company — which operates across 11 countries and is the largest building materials producer on the continent — is targeting annual production growth from 60 million tonnes to 100 million tonnes by 2030.
And on a personal note: Dangote has officially shelved his long-running interest in buying Arsenal FC. He's choosing to focus on his industrial empire instead, including his Lagos refinery, which is now producing 650,000 barrels of oil per day.
