BUA Foods Plc, one of Nigerian billionaire industrialist Abdul Samad Rabiu’s closely held businesses, completed the listing of its shares on the Nigerian Exchange on Wednesday, Jan. 5, after receiving regulatory approvals.
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As a result of the BUA Foods valuation, Rabiu’s net worth increased by nearly $1.9 billion to $7.2 billion, making him the majority owner of one of Africa’s fastest-growing cement manufacturers, BUA Cement.
His current net worth surpassed Nigerian telecom tycoon Mike Adenuga’s $6.6 billion fortune.
BUA Group, a well-diversified manufacturing conglomerate founded by Rabiu in 1988, owns the consolidated food business. The food-processing company was valued at N720 billion ($1.74 billion) after the listing of 18 billion shares at N40 ($0.0968) each.
BUA Foods’ stock was worth N44 ($0.1065) at press time, a 10-percent increase over its implied price. The market capitalization of the consolidated food business has increased to N792 billion ($1.92 billion) at the current price.
Rabiu’s fortune grew from $5.3 billion to $7.2 billion as a result of the increase in value.
The market value of his 92 percent stake in his cement company, which is valued at $5.3 billion, is factored into his net worth calculation. With the addition of his new business, he has surpassed Mike Adenuga, the founder of Globacom, Nigeria’s third-largest telecom company, as the country’s wealthiest man.
Following the listing of BUA Foods’ shares on the stock exchange, the newly formed company overtook Nestle Nigeria Plc, the Nigerian subsidiary of the Swiss consumer goods behemoth Nestle S.A., as the largest consumer goods company by market capitalization.
BUA Group’s five food businesses, including BUA Sugar Refinery Limited, BUA Oil Mills Limited, IRS Flour, IRS Pasta, and BUA Rice Limited, were spun off nearly a month ago, and the successful listing of its shares comes nearly a month later.
The conglomerate confirmed that combining its food businesses into BUA Foods, a newly consolidated food company, will help it maintain its leadership position in the agribusiness and food-processing sectors.
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Rabiu noted that listing the shares would help people understand the true value chain of the business and assist in dealing with Nigeria’s food crisis while speaking about his food business.
“Because many people are unaware of the scope of this business, we decided to combine all of the food businesses into one entity.” People will understand and appreciate the business now that we’ve done that,” he said.
