Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that the ongoing Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has already attracted the amount of funding the company set out to raise.
Dangote said the company’s priority was now to expand ownership of the refinery, with a target of up to 10 million shareholders across Africa.
He made the disclosure during a video interview with CNN International correspondent Larry Madowo, which Madowo shared on his X page on Monday.
Madowo told the billionaire about growing interest among Nigerians online, with some people inspecting Dangote’s trucks and visiting his cement factories while identifying themselves as investors.
Responding, Dangote said the interest in the IPO had spread beyond Nigeria.
“I think this IPO is not only for Nigerians. We’ve got a lot of interest from all over Africa, and we’re selling shares. We’re trying to bring in democracy to our stock markets,” he said.
He explained that the company intended to distribute ownership among a broad base of investors instead of allowing shares to remain concentrated among a small number of shareholders.
“We’re looking at having 10 million shareholders,” Dangote said.
Asked whether he was confident the target could be achieved, Dangote said the company had already secured the funds it sought to raise through the IPO.
“I’m 100 per cent sure we get 10 million shareholders. I mean, we’ve already raised the money that we’re looking for, so this is just to make sure we spread the wealth across the continent,” he said.
Dangote further suggested that the shareholder base could eventually become so large that the company might require a stadium to accommodate investors during its annual general meeting.
