By Ghazali Ibrahim
Aliko Dangote has said the next Annual General Meeting of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals could be held in a stadium if the company achieves its target of attracting 10 million shareholders.
Dangote made the remark during a recent interview with CNN International correspondent Larry Madowo while discussing the ongoing Initial Public Offering of the refinery.
The billionaire said the company expects its shareholder base to grow significantly as investors from across Africa participate in the offer.
“I’m 100 per cent sure we get 10 million shareholders,” Dangote said.
He explained that the company had already raised the money it was seeking through the offer, adding that the broader objective was to spread ownership of the refinery across the continent.
“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 said the projected size of the shareholder base could force the company to rethink how it organises its AGM.
“I think we are looking at now not having annual general meeting in the hotel like what we have been doing in other companies, no. This one, we’ll be stadium,” he said.
The Dangote Refinery IPO opened on September 14 and involves 4.1 billion ordinary shares priced at N525 per share. Investors can subscribe for a minimum of 10 shares, valued at N5,250.
The offer is scheduled to close on October 13, with the massive retail interest in the IPO already attracting attention across Nigeria’s investment market.
