The Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) breaks silence on alleged plans to take over Dangote Refinery.
Brand Spur Nigeria reports that some online news platforms had on Tuesday reported that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, could forfeit the Dangote Refinery over a $7 billion debt burden owed to commercial banks in the country with a possible takeover by AMCON.
AMCON, however, denied such plans. It said neither Dangote Refinery nor the Dangote Group are on its debtors’ list, hence it couldn’t have the plan to take over the assets.
AMCON Breaks Silence On Plans To Take Over Dangote Refinery
Head of Corporate Communications at AMCON, Jude Nwauzor, said since the Dangote Group is not on its debtors’ list, the rumour that it was planning to take over the assets of Dangote Refineries is false.
Multiple sources in the Dangote Group also said the report was “false and malicious”, as the group has the capacity to service and pay its debt.
AMCON had in 2010 purchased 12,743 bad loans worth N3.8 trillion from 22 Eligible Financial Institutions (EFIs) for a purchase price of N1.8 trillion.
According to AMCON, Dangote Refineries was not part of the bad debts that it took over and there was no way it would be taking over the assets of the company now.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had recently approved the acquisition of a 20 per cent minority stake by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the Dangote Petroleum and Petrochemical Refinery.
Dangote Oil Refinery is a 650,000-barrel per day (BPD) integrated refinery project under construction in the Lekki Free Zone of Lagos.
