In alliance with Kaduna and Kebbi States
and the Bank of Industry (BOI), he bid for a majority stake in Peugeot
Automobiles of Nigeria (PAN). The company was already under receivership with
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the asset recovering agency
was seeking investors to buy off some of the assets, following several
challenges that partly ruined it. The Federal Government had sold off its
controlling stake in the company in 2006 to local core investors who struggled
to keep it afloat.
In 2012, AMCON acquired a controlling stake
in the company and took over the company’s debt. But even AMCON struggled to
keep it afloat. PAN was by now, badly in need of a new lease of life and when
Dangote signified his interest and made a bid for it, to inject 52 million
euros, about N21 billion, into the company, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, that plan was dead on
arrival. Dangote quickly reconsidered, having seen that investing in PAN would
have been a huge liability, something he wasn’t willing to take on. He changed
course and a year after, signed a joint venture agreement with Peugeot of
France (PSA Groupe).
The new company, Dangote Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited (DPAN), has since kicked off. Located about 25 kilometers away from the present location of the defunct PAN Limited assembly plant in Kaduna State, DPAN recently released its first set of assembled saloon cars. However, this set is unfortunately not for commercial purposes, according to a reliable source in the know. The business mogul plans to roll out the ones for sale not later than the first quarter of 2022.