Dangote Cement Seeks $1bn from London IPO

• Dangote Cement Seeks $1bn from London IPO

Dangote Cement Plc, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revived plans for a share sale in London that could raise about $1bn, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Nigerian company approached investment bankers to discuss a potential United Kingdom listing, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the talks are not public.

Once banks have been appointed, it will probably take at least five months to complete the process.

The cement maker is also considering issuing a debut Eurobond, according to two different people familiar with the matter.

The sources said discussions were ongoing and a listing of Africa’s biggest cement maker might not go ahead, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

“We have not, to the best of my knowledge, taken such a decision,” Anthony Chiejina, Dangote Cement’s spokesman in Lagos= said in an emailed response to questions without commenting on the banker talks.

Fresh capital will enable Dangote Cement to fund expansion plans in sub-Saharan Africa and broaden its base of investors. It sees London as a more favourable place to attract about $1bn than in its home base of Lagos, where no company has raised more in an initial public offering than Starcomms Plc’s $796m in 2008.

Dangote Cement has a free float in Lagos of 14.9 per cent and a market valuation of $12.3bn. It mulled raising equity in London in 2010.

At the time, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley helped it prepare a sale that could have raised as much as $5bn, before the move was abandoned.

The revival of the plan comes as Dangote Cement shares climb to near records as the Nigerian economy recovers from a downturn caused by the 2014 slump in oil prices.

The economy of Africa’s most populous nation went into recession in 2016 as government revenue plunged. Nigerian stocks are up 11 per cent this year in dollar terms, the sixth best performance globally according to data compiled by Bloomberg.