Dangote to ‘acquire’ Peugeot Nigeria

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is teaming up with the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Kaduna and Kebbi state governments to acquire majority stake in Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Limited.

This disclosure was made by Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, at the launch of the Bank of Industry youth empowerment scheme (YES).

“We have submitted bids for the car maker … with Aliko Dangote on board together with BoI, Kebbi and Kaduna state; we are confident our bid will sail through,” he was quoted by Reuters to have said.

Peugeot is a local joint venture with the French automaker, with a long history in Nigeria, the anticipated hub of automotive assembling on the Africa continent.

El-Rufai said that Kaduna and Kebbi, along with development lender Bank of Industry (BoI) and Dangote, had submitted bids for the stake which AMCON is looking to sell.

Peugeot Nigeria assembly plant located in Kaduna state has Peugeot Citroen PEUP.PA as its technical partner “with a capacity to assemble 240 cars a day”.

Though conceived in 1969, Peugeot found its roots in Nigeria only two years later, after winning a bid during the Yakubu Gowon-led government.

In November 2006, PAN was privatized in line with government’s agenda to build a stronger, more competitive and diversified economy.

ASD Motors emerged as the successful core investor and took over management of the company (Peugeot) in January 2007, with a 54.78 percent stake, making Sani Dauda, CEO of both ASD Motors and Peugeot Nigeria.

The expectation was that the privatization of PAN would create a quantum leap in performance, but that has not happened, the company confirmed.

“Following the accumulation of huge non-performing loans (NPL) indebtedness to banks, in October 2012, the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) acquired the debts of the company and converted a portion to equity to help restructure the firm,” Peugeot had said.

The planned acquisition is expected to revamp the presence of the company in Africa’s largest economy.