The Lagos-based Dangote Refinery made its debut on Nigeria’s main stock exchange Monday in Africa’s biggest-ever IPO, aiming to raise up to $2.1 billion from retail investors across Africa. Some Nigerian trading apps crashed due to overwhelming demand for the shares, which are being offered to retail investors at 525 naira ($0.40) each, with a minimum purchase requirement of 10 shares.
The refinery reached its capacity of 700,000 barrels per day earlier this year—the highest in Africa—and the company says it plans to double its output to 1.4 million barrels per day within the next three years, aiming to fill the gap created by recent disruptions to fuel supplies form the Middle East.
As Lesley Anne Warner wrote in her WPR column last week, the success of the Dangote IPO and its planned expansion will ultimately depend on “whether it encourages a wider base of African refining and industrial capacity, rather than leaving the continent’s response to recurring fuel shocks tied too closely to the fortunes of one company.”
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