A Nigerian oil refinery owned by Africa’s richest man is extending the deadline for its initial public offering in order to broaden participation, its owner said Monday.
The IPO, set to be Africa’s largest capital market operation, was due to close on Tuesday but it will now be extended for two weeks until October 27, Aliko Dangote said after taking Kenyan lawmakers on a tour of the vast Lagos facility.
The 700,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Petroleum Refinery had aimed to raise $1.6 billion to double its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, which would make it the world’s largest refinery, surpassing India’s Jamnagar.
Raising money was only part of a bigger plan, Dangote has said, with the broader goal being to give ordinary Nigerians and Africans a chance to own a stake in the refinery.
“We are going to extend the date because we want a lot of our African brothers and sisters to participate,” Dangote told journalists at the sprawling facility.
He said the IPO has already garnered enough interest to raise “more than three, four times” the target amount.
“It is not about the amount, it is about the number of people that we want to participate.”
The company also broke ground last month on a planned $16-billion refinery which will produce 700,000 bpd on the Kenyan island of Lamu.
The project, which aims for completion within 30 to 40 months, has already faced a lawsuit from a local community over land rights.
Greenpeace and other environmentalists have also raised objections over its impact. Lamu is a tourist hotspot and UNESCO World Heritage site known for the oldest Swahili settlement, founded in the 12th century.
Kimani Ichung’wah, the majority leader of the parliament who led the Kenyan delegation said their visit was to “restate our support for the Dangote Group” and the IPO.
The refinery will “reshape the destiny” of the East African country and the wider region, said Ichung’wah.
“It is why we have come here as members of parliament because many of us are in support of it.
Kenyan President William Ruto visited the Lagos refinery on September 25.
AFP
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