Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, says the planned initial public offering (IPO) of the Dangote Refinery could hit the market in September as investor interest surges into billions of dollars.
Dangote disclosed this during a visit by Femi Otedola and senior executives of First HoldCo to the refinery and fertiliser plants in the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
According to a report by TheCable, Dangote said the company is accelerating plans for the IPO due to mounting pressure from investors eager to buy into the refinery project.
“There is quite a lot of demand in terms of people pushing us, saying we want to buy,” Dangote said.
“That is the reason why we are trying to make sure that by September, we will be out there in the market to sell the IPO. But we have a lot of demand in billions of dollars.”
The billionaire industrialist added that advisers are still determining the refinery’s valuation and target listing price ahead of the public offer.
Dangote also revealed that interest in an earlier proposed $2 billion private placement had already exceeded expectations.
“We are not selling up to that, but we’ll see what we can allocate to them. We can see what we can allocate to an IPO,” he said.
He explained that the public offer is aimed at broadening ownership and allowing more Nigerians to participate in the refinery venture.
Dangote described the refinery as one of the world’s biggest industrial projects, claiming it would account for about 10 per cent of America’s refining production capacity.
“It’s going to be the largest refinery ever on the earth of this world,” he said.
He further projected that the refinery business alone could eventually generate more revenue than any other company in Africa.
During the visit, Otedola praised Dangote’s vision and leadership, describing him as “a colossus” and “a genius” whose investments have helped free Nigeria and Africa from “economic slavery”.
The First HoldCo chairman said his company’s management visited the refinery as part of efforts to learn from Dangote’s business strategy while pursuing its ambition of becoming one of the biggest banks in sub-Saharan Africa within five years.
