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Nigeria’s Dangote says Lagos refinery IPO attracts ‘enormous’ investor demand - REUTERS
NAIROBI, Sept 29 (Reuters) – The initial public offering of shares in the Dangote Lagos refinery has attracted “enormous” investor demand, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said on Tuesday.
Dangote, Africa’s richest man, earlier this month launched a $1.6 billion IPO in the refinery to fund a doubling of its capacity. The deal is being marketed as a “people’s IPO” and would be Africa’s largest.
“Demand is there, enormous demand. In fact, I didn’t know the depth of our capital markets until now, really, because we have never tested it,” he told reporters in Nairobi.
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He did not provide specific numbers for the offer, which is scheduled to close on October 13.
Construction of a 700,000 barrel-per-day refinery for the East African market, in which the Dangote Group will hold 70% and regional governments the remainder, is due to be launched on Wednesday.
Dangote said governments investing in the project, including Kenya and Rwanda, would be allowed to spread payments for their equity stakes over four years.
