Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has set a target of 10 million shareholders for the ongoing public offering of shares in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals.
Dangote disclosed this in an interview with CNN International correspondent, Larry Madowo, published on Monday.
The billionaire said the share offer was intended to expand ownership of the refinery beyond a relatively small group of investors, with significant interest already coming from across Africa.
Madowo, while introducing the subject, noted the growing attention Nigerians had been paying to Dangote’s businesses on social media, including people inspecting his trucks and visiting his cement plants while identifying themselves as investors.
Asked about the development, Dangote said the IPO was attracting interest beyond Nigeria.
“I think this IPO is not only for Nigerians. We’ve got a lot of interest from all over Africa, and we’re selling shares. We’re trying to bring in democracy to our stock markets,” he said.
Dangote said the company wanted to distribute ownership so widely that its annual general meeting could eventually require a stadium to accommodate shareholders.
“We’re looking at having 10 million shareholders,” he said.
Asked by Madowo whether he was certain the target could be achieved, Dangote responded: “I’m 100 per cent sure we get 10 million shareholders.”
He explained that the primary objective of the offer was not to raise additional funding for the refinery, saying the company had already secured the money it was seeking.
“I mean, we’ve already raised the money that we’re looking for, so this is just to make sure we spread the wealth across the continent,” he said.
The IPO, which opened on September 14, comprises 4.1 billion new ordinary shares priced at N525 each.
The minimum subscription is 10 shares, meaning prospective investors can participate with N5,250.
The offer is scheduled to close on October 13.
If fully subscribed, the share sale will raise approximately N2.15tn, or $1.6bn, while the proceeds could rise to about $2.1bn if the company exercises its greenshoe option.
The offer represents an attempt to broaden public participation in the ownership of the refinery, which is one of Africa’s largest petroleum processing projects, by bringing both Nigerian and other African investors into its shareholder base.
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