The Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) is close to selling Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Ltd, a local car assembly joint venture, to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and two Nigerian states.

“We have concluded all processes on the bids since about two months ago, all we are waiting for (now) is the approval of the central bank,” Ahmed Kuru, AMCON’s chief executive, told Reuters on Friday.

PAN, a Nigerian vehicle assembly plant located in Kaduna State, has PSA Peugeot Citroen as its technical partner with a capacity to assemble 90,000 cars a year, according to its website.

Dangote, in alliance with the states of Kaduna and Kebbi and the Bank of Industry (BOI) development bank made a bid to acquire a majority stake in PAN last year as AMCON seeks to sell off some of the assets it acquired in the wake of the banking crisis.

Dangote’s eponymous group of companies is active in cement, oil, food and sugar, and is expanding into farming.

The automaker is worth over 15 billion Nigerian naira ($49 million) according to its last valuation, Kuru said, but declined to name the company Dangote and his partners are using to acquire the automaker.

AMCON, set up in 2010 to clean up the banking system following a $4 billion rescue of nine lenders that came close to collapse, took over PAN after buying up its debt and converting it to equity. ($1 = 304.4000 naira) (Reuters)