Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has acquired a 24.76 percent stake in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), becoming its second-largest shareholder after state-backed investors sold shares they bought during the company’s initial public offering.
“We bought 25 percent of their pipeline network for their distribution of petroleum products,” Bloomberg News quoted Dangote as saying at an event in London.
The purchase could give the Nigerian billionaire board representation and a say in KPC’s strategic investments.
Aliko Dangote has acquired a 24.76 percent stake in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).
Photo credit: NMG
His disclosure came two days after at least eight parastatals sold shares, less than eight months after spending billions of shillings on the IPO.
The sellers included the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Public Servants Pension Scheme, County Workers Pension Fund and Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority. Pension funds for employees of Kenya Power, KPC and Kenya Ports Authority also participated in the offer.
Dangote’s KPC investment comes weeks after he broke ground on September 30 for a $16 billion (about Sh2 trillion) oil refinery in Lamu.
The project is intended to reduce regional fuel costs and cut foreign currency spent importing refined petroleum products. Dangote aims to replicate his group’s 700,000-barrel-per-day Nigerian refinery as Kenya and Uganda explore producing crude oil.
About 13 parastatals invested Sh64.23 billion in the KPC IPO, acquiring a combined 38.35 percent stake. NSSF holds an estimated 23.3 percent, the Public Servants Pension Scheme 7.94 percent, County Workers Pension Fund 2.2 percent and Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority 1.98 percent.
The IPO needed to raise at least Sh53.1 billion from more than 250 investors to proceed, but the target was not met as the offer neared its close. The government urged parastatals, state-backed pension schemes and Uganda’s government to help prevent the offer from collapsing.
The state-owned investors sold shares at Sh9.02 each, close to the IPO price of Sh9. The offer opened on January 19 and closed on February 24, with KPC shares beginning to trade on the Nairobi Securities Exchange on March 9.
Dangote was quoted in London after KPC listed on the Nairobi bourse on March 9. His 24.76 percent holding follows a share sale by public institutions that had collectively invested heavily in the IPO less than eight months earlier.
The founder and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, during an interview at JW Marriott Hotel Nairobi on Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation
The sale price of Sh9.02 was almost identical to the government’s Sh9 offer price, despite the state having urged public funds and Uganda to support the transaction after it struggled to attract enough investors.
The IPO ultimately drew Sh95.8 billion from Uganda and 13 state-backed pension schemes and agencies, against a required Sh106.3 billion, the documents showed, to prevent the offer collapsing.
Uganda and 13 state-backed pension schemes and agencies invested Sh95.8 billion of the required Sh106.3 billion, according to confidential documents seen by the Nation .
NSSF invested Sh38.5 billion, Uganda Sh33 billion, the Public Servants Pension Scheme Sh13 billion, County Workers Pension Fund Sh3.6 billion and Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority Sh3.2 billion.
For the Lamu refinery, Dangote has offered regional governments a combined 30 percent stake. The project, scheduled for completion in 2030, is expected to serve Kenya and the wider East African market, and its shares are eventually expected to be listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. It would be Kenya’s largest-ever foreign direct investment.
KPC’s net profit rose 13 percent to Sh11.58 billion in the year to June 2026, enabling it to pay Sh5.81 billion in dividends.
Dangote is expanding his Kenyan investments beyond energy into tourism and hospitality. Africa Travel Investments, backed by Alterra Capital Partners, a private equity firm supported by Dangote and other investors, acquired all of Pollman’s Tours and Safaris for about Sh4 billion.
The operator, one of Kenya’s oldest, specialises in guided safaris and sells travel packages to agents and tour operators worldwide.
Alterra also partnered with Phatisa to acquire a majority stake in Java House Africa from UK-based private equity firm Actis. The value of that transaction was not disclosed.
