Abuja—Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has raised about 486 billion naira ($368 million) through a rights issue, according to a market bulletin from the Nigerian Exchange, as the wider Dangote Group prepares for a major initial public offering of its oil refinery business.
The rights issue saw approximately 8.1 billion new ordinary shares of Dangote Sugar Refinery listed on the Nigerian Exchange.
The new listing takes the company’s total issued and fully paid-up share capital to approximately 20.2 billion ordinary shares.
Capital Raise Comes Ahead of Bigger Dangote IPO
The transaction comes as Dangote Group prepares to take its oil refinery business to the public market.
The planned IPO of the Dangote refinery is expected to become Africa’s biggest-ever share sale, potentially marking a major milestone for Nigeria’s capital markets and deepening local investor participation in one of the continent’s largest industrial assets.
The refinery, located in Lagos, forms a major part of Dangote’s expansion beyond its traditional cement business.
A Broader African Industrial Empire
Dangote Group founder and majority shareholder Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, built his fortune primarily through cement before expanding into a wide range of industries.
The group now has interests spanning sugar, cement, flour milling, agriculture, real estate and oil refining, among other sectors.
The latest capital raise highlights the group’s continued reliance on Nigeria’s capital markets to fund and restructure its expanding industrial businesses.
At an exchange rate of 1,320.44 naira per dollar, the rights issue is equivalent to approximately $368 million.
Source: Reuters
Reporting: Chijioke Ohuocha&Nilutpal Timsina
Editing: Alexander Winning
