Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has extended its ongoing $1.6 billion initial public offering (IPO), touted as the biggest-ever in Africa, by two weeks to enable more participation across Africa, following robust, continent-wide interest, the company said on Monday.
“The IPO is going very well. We will extend the closing date because we want more of our African brothers and sisters to participate,” the company said in a statement.
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“Following our discussions with the Nairobi Stock Exchange, we have identified what we believe is the best way to facilitate participation. We are now trying to replicate that arrangement with other African exchanges to ensure wider participation,” it added.
The public share sale, which targets retail investors, opened for subscription on 14 September and was due to close on 13 October; before the extension, it would have run through 27 October.
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According to the refinery, majority-owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the extension.
The IPO proceeds will finance the expansion of the 700,000 barrel-per-day crude refining plant on the outskirts of Lagos, which is expected to double its current capacity by 2030.
The IPO offers 4.1 billion shares at ₦525 per unit, with a minimum subscription of 10 shares. The IPO includes a green shoe option, allowing an additional 30 per cent of the shares on offer to be sold if it is oversubscribed.
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In July, a private placement ahead of the IPO was 270 per cent oversubscribed, even though the original plan was to raise $2.5 billion.
Pan-African Refinery Investment SPV, a subsidiary of Lilium Capital Group, underwrote and funded $600 million of the private placement.
READ ALSO: How Lafarge tried to “frustrate” Dangote’s cement expansion in Africa – Obasanjo
The IPO attracted billions of naira within minutes of opening. At the same time, several trading platforms, including Bamboo and Cowrywise, experienced downtime on the first day of the offer, overwhelmed by subscription traffic.
Mr Dangote said in the Monday statement that the IPO has already received subscriptions of “more than three or four times” the amount it set out originally to raise.
According to the company, the extension would bolster efforts to expand access to the offer across the continent, including by expanding distribution channels and facilitating cross-border investment.
It said the move would give prospective investors more time to complete the account-opening process, identity verification, and other regulatory preconditions to participate in the IPO.
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