Dangote IPO targets record 10m investors

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Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is targeting 10 million retail investors for its N2.15tn initial public offering, a move the transaction advisers said would be about 20 times Nigeria’s current retail participation record.

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The offer, comprising 4.1 billion ordinary shares of $0.000013 each at N525 per share, will open on September 14 and close on October 14, ahead of the planned listing on the main board of the Nigerian Exchange in November.

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The disclosure was made on Monday in Lagos at the signing ceremony for the IPO, where the transaction advisers said the offer had been structured to accommodate mass participation by retail investors.

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With a minimum subscription of 10 shares, investors will be able to participate with N5,250, giving low-income earners the opportunity to be shareholders.

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Managing Director of Vetiva Capital Management Limited, Chuka Eseka, said the distribution structure would be driven electronically through banks, fintech platforms, stockbrokers and other financial intermediaries.

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He said the arrangement would enable Nigerians to subscribe without being physically present, describing it as a new approach to the distribution of capital-market offers in the country.

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“This will be the first offer in Nigeria that will be made to persons who truly have to subscribe digitally, utilising a wide array of platforms involving banks, fintechs, the regular and significant markets and other financial intermediaries,” Eseka said.

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According to him, the structure was deliberately designed to enable investors to participate from wherever they are with as little as N5,250. The 10 million target represents a significant increase from the current retail participation record of 131,000 investors cited by the advisers.

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Eseka said the signing ceremony marked the commitment of the board, management and transaction parties to accountability, disclosure and transparency.

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“The significance of this event is the commitment of the board, management, and all the transactional parties to the core goals of accountability, disclosure, and transparency,” he said.

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President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said the broad investor target was the major reason for limiting the size of the offer, stressing that raising funds was not the primary objective of the IPO.

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“So it’s not really about raising money. If we want to raise money, we know how to raise and that’s why we have a limit. If not, we would have actually offered 20 per cent of the company,” he said.

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Dangote said the IPO was designed to widen ownership of the refinery beyond institutional and wealthy investors and bring ordinary Nigerians, workers, drivers, managers and small business owners into its ownership structure.

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“We are targeting 10 million shareholders from all over Africa and maybe other parts of the world,” Dangote said.

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He added that the objective was to give ordinary investors an opportunity to build long-term wealth by owning shares in large African businesses.

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The offer also contains a retail investor incentive scheme under which qualifying investors may receive up to two additional shares, subject to meeting the prescribed holding period.

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Dangote, however, said the IPO was not being driven by current geopolitical disruptions or elevated refining margins, noting that the company’s calculations were based on normal market conditions.

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Managing Director of Vetiva Advisory Services Limited, Olutade Olaegbe, said the transaction was a fixed-price offer, with retail participation to be conducted strictly through electronic channels.

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He said investors could subscribe through participating bank applications, specified fintech platforms and stockbrokers, while qualified institutional investors would also be able to subscribe electronically or through the application process provided in the offer documents.

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Olaegbe disclosed that the offer had an oversubscription provision allowing the issuer to accept up to an additional 30 per cent of the offer size, depending on demand and subject to the terms of the offer.

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The N2.15tn offer is primarily intended to support the refinery’s capital expenditure programme, although the company said its expansion plan was already fully funded.

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Dangote Refinery Chief Executive Officer, David Bird, said the plan to increase refining capacity from 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day was fully funded, engineered and procured, with completion targeted for 2028.

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He said the expansion would also involve increasing the refinery’s product range and building distribution infrastructure into other West African markets.

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“This is not just a refinery and petrochemical complex. This is truly a pan-African energy platform,” he said.

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Bird also disclosed that the refinery had previously sought $1bn from private investors and received demand of $3.7bn, eventually accepting $2.5bn and returning $1.2bn.

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He added that the experience reinforced the level of interest in the refinery, while stressing that the public offer was aimed at widening ownership.

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Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, Sotubo Oladele, said the next test would be whether the market could deliver the targeted investor numbers when the offer opens.

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The advisers also disclosed that the transaction had received Sharia-compliance certification following an independent assessment of the refinery’s activities and products against applicable Islamic finance standards.

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They said the certification would make the offer accessible to investors seeking Sharia-compliant investments.

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