Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, marked another milestone draped in superlatives on 14 September. The giant facility he built in Lagos, the world's biggest single-train oil refinery, was marking its initial public offering (IPO) - Africa's biggest ever - on the Nigerian stock exchange.
The offer included 4.1bn shares of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, priced at 525 naira ($0.39) per share, and was intended to raise 2.15 trillion naira ($1.63bn). Dangote hopes to use the IPO proceeds to double the capacity of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to 1.4m barrels a day, build fuel storage and distribution infrastructure and support future expansion.
Dubbed the "people's IPO" by CEO David Bird, the company made it clear it wants as many as 10m retail subscribers from Nigeria and across Africa, with a minimum purchase limit of five shares costing 5,250 naira ($3.94). Dangote, 69, was himself on hand to ring the opening bell at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) to declare the share offer open.
"There are moments in a nation when an occasion becomes greater than the event itself, when a transaction becomes a statement," Dangote said in his speech at the event.
Originally published by African Business.