With the purchase of Pollman's Tours & Safaris, Nigerian business magnate and Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, and fellow billionaire David Rubenstein have entered the Kenyan tourism market.

In February, American billionaire David Rubenstein and the Aliko Dangote-backed private equity firm Alterra Capital invested in ARP Africa Travel Group, which operates Pollman's.

The firm recently made the decision to buy Pollman's Tours and Safaris, Kenya's oldest tour operator, to enter one of the country's biggest markets: tourism.

“With regard to the proposed transaction, post-merger, the market share of the merged entity will not change as the target and the acquirer are not in similar businesses, and therefore the structure and concentration of the markets for tour operators in Kenya will not be affected,” the regulator said in a statement.

According to the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), there will be no change in the makeup and concentration of Kenya's decentralised tour operator sector, which is home to over 300 businesses, including Bonfire Adventures and Bountiful Safaris.

According to Kenyan merger regulations, the regulator also concluded that the transaction did not pose a threat to jobs or small firms' ability to compete, two significant public interest concerns.

The Kenyan Wall Street claimed that the parties stated that no jobs would be lost as a result of the deal.

Dangote’s operations in other African countries

Working in foreign markets is nothing new to Aliko Dangote. Aliko Dangote recently extended his agro-industrial conglomerate into Ghana with the opening of a major sugar refinery facility in Kwame-Danso, Bono East Region, in a similar attempt at regional integration.

Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc is funding the venture, which is a bold attempt to join Ghana's $162 million annual sugar import market and support the government's "One District, One Factory" industrialisation plan.

The state-of-the-art plantation will sustain a 25,000-hectare irrigated plantation that will process 12,000 tons of sugarcane every day.

The plant will produce ethanol and molasses, two high-value by-products in addition to refined sugar, creating opportunities in the biofuel and agro-processing sectors.

The Nigerian entrepreneur has sold petroleum products to Saudi Arabia, North America, and, most recently, Turkey since the opening of his oil refinery.

Just ten African nations—among them Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and South Africa—are served by Dangote Cement.

Aliko Dangote clarifies Dangote refinery’s relationship with NNPCL

Legit.ng reported that Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, has clarified the relationship between Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), emphasising cooperation over competition.

Dangote refuted notions of rivalry between Dangote Refinery and NNPCL, stressing that both organisations share a common vision to ensure energy security for Nigeria.

He congratulated Bashir Bayo Ojulari, GCEO of NNPC Limited, and the rest of the management team on their appointment, restating his confidence that they can navigate the responsibilities before them.