Dangote Refinery Extends IPO Closing Date To October 27 After Oversubscription

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE has extended the closing date of its ongoing Initial Public Offering after recording oversubscription running into trillions of naira.

The offer, which opened on September 14, was initially scheduled to close on October 13 but will now remain open until October 27 following approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company said the two weeks extension will allow more investors across Africa to participate in the offer.

In a statement issued on Monday by the Dangote Group, Chairman Aliko Dangote said the extension was not driven by the need to raise more money but by the desire to give more Africans the opportunity to own shares in the business.

He said the IPO is going very well and the company will extend the closing date because it wants more of its African brothers and sisters to participate.

Dangote disclosed that after discussions with the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the company identified a model to facilitate participation and is now trying to replicate the arrangement with other African exchanges.

Explaining the level of subscription received so far, Dangote said the company has already received subscriptions amounting to more than three or four times the original target.

He said it is not about the amount of money but about the number of people who will have the opportunity to participate in the offer.

A calculation that multiplies the N2.1525tn offer value by four puts potential subscriptions at N8.61tn, representing an estimate based on the offer value and Dangote’s remarks.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, David Bird, said the extension will enable more investors across the continent to share in the company’s future growth.

Bird said the ambition from the outset has been to enable as many people as possible to participate in the IPO.

The company said the additional time will support efforts to expand access across African markets, including through wider distribution channels and unsponsored depository receipt programmes designed to facilitate cross-border investment.

It added that the extension will also give prospective investors more time to complete account opening procedures, identity verification and other regulatory requirements necessary to participate.

The public offer provides investors with an opportunity to acquire shares in the refinery at N525 per share.