Dangote to List 10% of Ethiopian Fertiliser Business on Africa's Youngest Exchange

Aliko Dangote said 10% of the group's Ethiopian fertiliser business will be listed on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange, in one of the biggest announcements yet for Africa's youngest bourse and a fresh sign of the group's pan-African ambitions.

The announcement was made during a visit to Addis Ababa that coincided with efforts to broaden the investor base for the Dangote Petroleum Refinery's initial public offering. Dangote promised "no limit" on his investment in Ethiopia, according to StockMarket.et.

The Gode urea complex

The listing vehicle is tied to a US$2.5 billion urea complex under construction at Gode in Ethiopia's Somali Region, developed in partnership with the state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings. Under the agreement signed in August 2025, Ethiopia holds 40% of the venture and Dangote Group 60%.

The project is central to Dangote's stated goal of reducing Africa's reliance on imported fertiliser. Urea is a key nitrogen input for Ethiopia's agriculture sector, which employs a large share of the workforce and is a priority for the government's food-security agenda.

Why the ESX matters

The Ethiopian Securities Exchange is one of the continent's newest, and its listed-company roster is still being built, with banks and Ethio Telecom among the early entrants. Bringing a stake in a large industrial project to the exchange would deepen the market's industrial representation and give Ethiopian investors exposure to a major real-asset business.

The move also reflects a broader trend: African governments and conglomerates are experimenting with cross-border listings and depositary receipts to widen ownership and channel domestic savings into productive assets. Dangote is simultaneously marketing its refinery IPO to investors in Egypt, Ethiopia and Botswana.

A crowded pipeline

The listing plan sits alongside the parent group's flagship transaction. The refinery IPO offers 4.1 billion shares at N525 each, aiming to raise about N2.15 trillion, or $1.6 billion, and was extended to October 27 to accommodate additional African markets.

Dangote said this week that the offer has been subscribed several times over its target, with a hard cap of $2.1 billion. That reception matters for the Ethiopian plan, because it demonstrates investor appetite for Dangote-linked assets and supports the group's case for taking more of its businesses public.

What to watch

The timeline for the ESX listing has not been set, and questions remain over valuation, the precise shareholding to be floated and the sequencing relative to the Gode plant's completion. Investors will also watch how Ethiopian regulators handle a foreign-led industrial listing on a young exchange, and whether the transaction becomes a template for other entries.