Drivers, cooks, traders can own refinery shares, says Dangote

President of Dangote Industries Limited, AlikoDangote, yesterday, signed registration documents for the proposed initial public offering of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, with the billionaire businessman saying drivers, cooks, traders, servants and managers will have an opportunity to own shares in the refinery.

Dangote stated this at the signing ceremony held in Lagos, describing the transaction as an “IPO for the people” designed to democratise ownership of the massive industrial facility.

The IPO comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares at N525 each and is expected to raise just over N2tn, according to Dangote.

The businessman said the minimum subscription would be 10 shares.

“But it is not only to fund the expansion of the refinery, of course, it’s a bigger amount. What we are trying to do is to make sure majority of all these my—our drivers, our cooks, our, you know, servants, our managers, everybody, they will have an opportunity to have a stake in this refinery,” Dangote said.

He said the transaction was not solely about raising funds for expansion, adding that the objective was to give people across the continent an opportunity to own shares in the refinery.

“So, this is why we have actually called it the IPO for the people. This is why we say that this is democratizing,” he said.

“There is no segregation on who can own these shares. We want every human being living on the continent to be part of this action, and I’m sure they will continue to be happy now, future, and forever.”

‘Waiting for my dollar dividend’

Dangote also spoke about the potential returns to shareholders, referring to the possibility of dollar-denominated dividends.

He said investors could eventually use such dividends to meet expenses outside Nigeria.

“When, uh, they will end up having to say that yes, I’m waiting for that check for my dollar, uh, dividend to send for the school fees of my daughter in UK or anywhere in the part of the world,” he said.

The signed prospectus puts the value of the offer at about $1.6bn, while the IPO values the refinery at about $49bn.

The IPO is scheduled to open on September 14 and close on October 13.

From bankers’ trust to refinery IPO

Reflecting on the refinery’s journey, Dangote said the project began with bankers providing financial backing even before the company had settled on the refinery’s location or secured its licence.

“…bankers without them even seeing which site we were going to use. Without seeing the license, we didn’t even have a license of the refinery. But the shared trust between us and our bankers made them to put money on the table without asking too many questions. We thank you for your trust,” he said.

He said the company faced several hurdles in determining where to locate the refinery.

“Even though we had very false starts, several hurdles, in fact, on the land itself, we struggle for five years trying to find which land we’re going to use,” he said.

Dangote said the company spent three years and eight months at Olokola before moving to the Lekki Free Zone.

“Three years, eight months in Olokola, and then we spent over a year and a half before we got access to our land at Lekki Free Zone,” he said.

He also recalled resistance from members of the community when the company attempted to gain access to the Lekki site.

“We tried to enter, but I think the first fight where Mr. Dishi lost his life at the Lekki Free Zone because, you know, there was fight with the community and, you know, not on our own side. Our side is right inside, but the community were actually resisting, and that actually made them, you know, to understand what we wanted to do, and later on I think they allowed us in.”