Dangote Industries Limited, DIL, may soon collapse its business subsidiaries structure by merging NASCON Allied Industries Plc, the salt-making arm, with its two other food companies, together.
DIL is the holding company for a raft of firms majority-owned by Africa’s wealthiest man Aliko Dangote.
In a regulatory filing cited by BizWatch Nigeria, the company disclosed that the marriage is expected to unite the salt-maker with Dangote Sugar, owners of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest sugar refinery, and Dangote Rice into a single entity.
While Dangote Rice is not listed yet, both NASCON and Dangote Sugar are quoted companies on the Nigerian Exchange Group, NGX.
This development is, however, coming over two years after the group’s fiercest rival, BUA Group, announced a similar move consolidating its food businesses – rice, sugar, flour, edible oils, and flour – into a new company known as BUA Foods.
BUA Foods would go on to list on the Nigerian Exchange and is currently Nigeria’s biggest consumer goods company by market value, worth over N2.4 trillion as of the market open on Thursday, July 13, 2023, and N649.6 billion in total assets as of 31 March.
Meanwhile, after announcing its intention to buy back its own shares from shareholders on Tuesday, Dangote Cement Plc saw a 9.27% increase in value. This increased purchasing activity on the Nigerian Exchange’s trading floor.
As a result of shareholders’ involvement in the company’s share repurchase, the market price increased by N30.6 in a single day to N360.7. After a protracted period in which MTN Nigeria relinquished its status as the most valuable brand on the local exchange, the market valued Dangote Cement at N6.145 trillion at the conclusion of the trading session.
