Billionaire Femi Otedola says he sold his stake in Geregu Power PLC to put the proceeds into the upcoming public offering of Dangote Refinery.
Speaking to journalists during a visit to the refinery on Wednesday, Otedola described Aliko Dangote as “a colossus” and “one of the greatest men that has come out of Africa” for building a project he believes will free Nigeria and Africa from economic dependence.
“That’s one of the reasons why I sold my stake in the Geregu plant to come and invest my proceeds in the IPO of Dangote Refinery,” Otedola said.
He told reporters he had pushed Dangote repeatedly to allocate him shares in the refinery’s private placement, saying he had been to the site with Dangote 25 times. As part of his compensation, Otedola said he asked for $100 million worth of shares during the private placement phase.
Otedola offloaded his interest in Geregu Power last December. He took the power firm public in October 2022 at a N250 billion market value, and a source familiar with the deal told PREMIUM TIMES the sale was worth about $750 million. He had been the majority owner of the Lagos-listed company until then.
Dangote confirmed on Wednesday that preparations are underway for an Initial Public Offering, with a possible launch by September. He said demand from investors has already hit “billions of dollars.”
“There is quite a lot of demand in terms of people disturbing us, pushing us, saying we want to buy,” Dangote said. He added that the goal is to let early investors benefit from the refinery’s growth the way early backers of Amazon and Apple did.
UN warns: 35m Nigerians to face acute hunger from June
The 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lagos started fuel production last year and is expected to cut Nigeria’s reliance on imported petroleum products. It’s described as Africa’s largest refinery and one of the biggest single-train refineries globally.
Otedola said he believes the project is a transformational investment for the continent. What do you think—does the Dangote Refinery IPO look like the next big play for Nigerian investors?
