Top South African pension and investment firms are considering investment opportunities in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals after a high-profile visit to the facility in Lagos.
According to a statement released by the company on Tuesday, representatives of the South African Government Employees Pension Fund, Public Investment Corporation and Alterra Capital Partners toured the Dangote Refinery and Dangote Fertiliser complex in Ibeju-Lekki.
The Government Employees Pension Fund is regarded as Africa’s largest defined-benefit pension scheme, managing retirement funds for over 1.8 million South African public workers, while the PIC remains the continent’s biggest asset manager.
Speaking during the visit, GEPF Chairman, Frans Baleni, described the refinery as proof that Africa can successfully execute large-scale industrial projects comparable to global standards.
“If it can be done anywhere else in the world, it can be done in Africa. This project has shown that the continent is capable of achieving world-class industrialisation at scale,” Baleni said.
He noted that the impact of the refinery extends beyond Nigeria, adding that the project is changing global perceptions about Africa’s industrial capacity.
“What has been built here is reshaping how the world should think about African industrial capability, and it should reshape how Africa thinks about itself,” he stated.
“The Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex is a powerful demonstration that, with visionary leadership and long-term capital, that perception no longer holds. This is the kind of African-led industrial scale that institutional investors on this continent should be backing,” Baleni added.
Chief Executive Officer of PIC, Patrick Dlamini, also described the refinery as one of Africa’s most transformational industrial projects.
Quoting former South African President Nelson Mandela, Dlamini said, “It always looks impossible until it’s done. This project is redefining the story of Africa and the possibilities of Africa.”
Dlamini explained that PIC, which manages about $230bn in assets mainly on behalf of South Africa’s pension fund, is searching for long-term investment partnerships focused on infrastructure, industrialisation and economic growth across Africa.
“PIC’s mandate is to deploy long-term, patient capital in the service of industrialisation, infrastructure, and economic transformation across Africa,” he said.
“What we have seen today reinforces our conviction that the next chapter of African prosperity will be written through partnership between African institutional capital and African industrial champions,” Dlamini added.
He further revealed that there is strong alignment between Dangote Group’s industrial expansion strategy and PIC’s investment objectives, noting that discussions on future collaboration would continue.
Speaking during the visit, President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said plans to list the refinery on the Nigerian Exchange are aimed at allowing Africans to directly participate in the continent’s industrial growth.
“We are opening the doors for investors to participate directly in Africa’s industrial future and the prosperity it will create,” Dangote said.
The billionaire businessman stressed that Africa’s future economic growth must be driven by major industrial projects capable of creating jobs, boosting local production and reducing dependence on imports.
Dangote explained that the refinery was built to address Africa’s growing energy demand and reduce the continent’s reliance on imported petroleum products.
According to him, demand for products such as aviation fuel, polypropylene and refined petroleum products has already surpassed initial projections.
“We thought about Nigeria first and then exports, but even with our current production, we are practically living hand to mouth because the market demand is extremely high,” Dangote stated.
