Alhaji Aliko Dangote has teamed up with two Nigerian
states to bid for a majority stake in Peugeot Automobile
Nigeria (PAN) Limited, a local joint venture with the French
automaker, the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasri el-
Rufai has said.
Governor el-Rufai said the states of Kaduna and Kebbi,
along with the Bank of Industry (BoI) and Dangote had
submitted bids for the stake which Asset Management
Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is offering to sell. PAN, the
Nigerian assembly plant located in Kaduna State, has
Peugeot Citroen PEUP.PA as its technical partner with a
capacity to assemble 240 cars a day, PAN said on its
website.
“We have submitted bids for the carmaker… with Aliko
Dangote on board together with BoI, Kebbi and Kaduna
State, we are confident our bid will sail through,” El-Rufai
told a conference. el-Rufai did not provide further details.
Bids for AMCON’s stake closed on January 26. Peugeot’s
Executive Vice President for Africa and the Middle-East,
Jean-Christophe Quemard, met President Muhammadu
Buhari in November to discuss reviving local production.
Buhari is keen to promote a “Made in Nigeria” industrial
policy. PAN Nigeria Limited was set up in 1972 as a joint
venture between the Nigerian government and France’s
Peugeot, with an annual production of 90,000 cars by the
1980s.
But operations nosedived and debt racked up shortly after
the government sold its stake to local core investors in
2006, as cheap, imported, second-hand vehicles from Asia
and poor manufacturing infrastructure hurt profits.
AMCON owns 79.3 per cent of PAN Nigeria Limited, having
bought the company’s debt and taken some as equity.
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