Bamboo, Cowrywise down due to Dangote Refinery IPO subscription traffic

Two Nigerian investment platforms, Bamboo and Cowrywise, experienced disruptions to their services on Monday following a surge in traffic from users attempting to subscribe to Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE’s initial public offering (IPO).

The two investment platforms confirmed the disruptions in separate posts on X on Monday.

Dangote Refinery on Monday commenced its initial public offering (IPO), with the share sale comprising 4.1 billion ordinary shares offered at N525 per share until 13 October. The refinery aims to raise N2.15 trillion.

It plans to add 10 million African retail investors, from cooks and drivers to traders and managers, to its shareholder base at the end of the transaction in a push to drive inclusiveness, Aliko Dangote, the Group Chairman, told investment bankers and the investing public last week at the signing of the offer documents in Lagos.

Bamboo said the unusually high traffic was making it difficult for some users to access its app as investors sought to participate in the Dangote Refinery share offer.

“Hey everyone, we’re getting much higher than expected traffic trying to get into the Dangote IPO and it’s making it difficult for some users to log into the Bamboo app. We’re working on a fix and it will be up and running shortly,” the investment platform said.

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Similarly, Cowrywise also acknowledged an unusually high volume of traffic on its platform, assuring its customers that it was working to resolve the issues as early as possible.

“We’re currently seeing more traffic than usual on the Cowrywise app. Our team is already on it and working to get things back to normal. Thanks for your patience, everyone,” the investment platform said.

The disruptions occurred on the first day of the Dangote Refinery’s $1.6 billion initial public offering, which seeks to raise about N2.15 trillion through the sale of 4.1 billion shares at N525 each.

The minimum subscription is 10 units, equivalent to N5,250. The offer has a greenshoe option, which allows underwriters to sell a further 30 per cent of the shares on offer in the event that the offer is oversubscribed.

The refinery currently has a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day and is aspiring to double that capacity by 2030, using the proceeds of the IPO to finance the expansion.