BUA Group merges food businesses, to list on NGX

BUA Group has integrated its sugar, flour, pasta, rice and edible oils food businesses into a single entity.

Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of the group, told CNBC Africa in an interview on Thursday.

The billionaire businessman said that the new entity — BUA Foods — would magnify the business as he intends to list it on the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX).

According to him, the listing would help people realise the true value chain of the business and assist in dealing with Nigeria’s food crisis. 

“A lot of people do not know the size of this business,” he said. 

“That is why we decided to merge all the food businesses: the sugar, the flour and pasta, the rice milling, and the edible oils into one entity.

“Now that we have done that, people will understand and appreciate the business. 

“It’s a huge business, and it has a lot of impacts, especially the plantation that we have in Kwara State. Because that is a 20,000-hectare project.”

Rabiu said that from 2022, once production kickstarts, the group would be producing about 200 thousand tons of white fortified premium sugar. 

Also, he said that its sugar refineries in Lagos and Port Harcourt produce about 1.5 million tonnes per annum — the Port Harcourt refinery — exporting sugar to West African countries as an export-based refinery.

“Therefore, we thought it was important for people to appreciate and understand what we have, and with the refinery in Port Harcourt, we will be able to export to most of these West African countries that do not have refineries,” the chairman said. 

The group’s current capacity for flour milling and pasta at 576,000 tons and 250,000 tons, respectively, is expected to increase to 1.4 million tons for the combined capacity, according to the chairman. 

“By the middle of next year, we are going to be doing about 1.4 million tons combined,” he said. 

He said the expansion project in flour milling and pasta will be delivered in Port Harcourt by mid-2022.