By Abubakar Yunusa
The $1.6bn Dangote Petroleum Refinery Initial Public Offering attracted more than N10bn in subscriptions within minutes of opening on Monday, with thousands of investors already participating in the historic offer.
The Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, disclosed this at the Facts Behind the Figures presentation at the Nigerian Exchange in Lagos, while the NGX Group Chairman, Umaru Kwairanga, confirmed that subscriptions had crossed N10bn before 8am.
Aig-Imoukhuede, a former chairman of the Nigerian Exchange, described the offer as historic, saying investors had shown strong appetite for the refinery’s shares.
“With this particular, sterling, historic offer and what I have seen in the data room, where already billions of naira have been subscribed by thousands of investors within minutes or under an hour, you are a blessing to humanity,” he said.
Kwairanga corroborated the claim, saying the subscription had already surpassed the N10bn mark shortly after the offer opened.
“From eight o’clock today, we are talking of over 10 billion and above that have already joined,” he said.
The IPO is seeking to raise $1.6bn, making it the largest offering in African capital market history.
The offer opened on September 14 and will run until October 13, with the refinery expected to be listed on the NGX in November.
The offer targets 10 million shareholders across Africa, in what could significantly widen retail participation in the Nigerian capital market.
At an offer price of N525 per share, Dangote Refinery is valued at $49bn.
The proceeds will be used to expand the refinery’s nameplate capacity from its current 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2030.
Analysts estimate that the listing could increase the market capitalisation of the NGX by about one-third.
The market capitalisation stood at N157.6tn at the opening of trading on Monday.
The strong early subscription has therefore set the stage for what could become one of the most significant capital-market transactions in Nigeria and Africa, as investors race to secure stakes in the country’s largest oil refinery.
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