Dangote Refinery to launch $1.5 billion IPO mid-September – Report

Dangote Refinery will open the order book for its initial public offering to retail investors on 14 September, effectively kickstarting the $1.5 billion public share sale, said to be the continent’s biggest ever, Reuters reported Friday, citing two sources who have close knowledge of the move.

Pricing will commence at any moment now at N525 per share ($0.40), with 4.1 billion shares up for subscription, the report added, noting that the sources spoke on the understanding that their identities will not be disclosed.

The crude processing plant, which holds the distinction of being the world’s largest single-train refinery, will have the latitude to sell 15 per cent of the offer size in addition to the total number of shares up for grabs in the event the transaction is oversubscribed, a source was quoted as saying.

The facility, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is ready to double nameplate capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).

Financing will be provided by proceeds from both the planned equity sale and a private placement held in July, which raised $2.5 billion from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. It was 270 per cent oversubscribed.

Another refinery, the size of the current one at 700,000 bpd, is to be established in the coastal town of Lamu in Kenya, strategically conceived by the Dangote Group as the gateway to the broader East African market.

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Last month, the group offered a 30 per cent stake in the proposed refinery to countries in the region, including Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

The groundbreaking is scheduled for this month.

Dangote Refinery is exploring a cross-border listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the continent’s foremost bourse, following a primary listing in Lagos.

The corporation said in August that a London listing, which its sister company, Dangote Cement, is actively pursuing, is not on the cards, adding that a potential listing in the UK capital is at least three years away.