NGX Chair Woos Kenyan Investors as Dangote Refinery IPO Enters Third Week
The Group Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group), Umaru Kwairanga, on Tuesday urged institutional investors in Kenya and the wider East African region to take up a stake in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE.
He described the company’s initial public offering (IPO) as a rare opportunity to connect African capital with one of the continent’s most important private-sector enterprises.
Speaking at an investor engagement hosted by the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Kwairanga said the offer marked “an important milestone in Nigeria’s industrial journey” and commended Aliko Dangote and the Dangote Group for choosing the Nigerian capital market as the platform to broaden ownership of the landmark refinery.
“The Dangote Refinery IPO represents a significant opportunity to connect institutional capital from across the continent with one of Nigeria’s most important private-sector enterprises,” he told the gathering of fund managers, pension administrators and other institutional investors. “But beyond this transaction, we believe the broader opportunity is to strengthen the channels through which African investors can participate in African capital markets.”
The Nairobi engagement is the latest leg of a cross-border push to attract regional capital into the offer, and Kwairanga was keen to frame it as part of a wider ambition to knit Africa’s fragmented exchanges more closely together.
“For us, this engagement is not simply about one transaction. It is about building stronger bridges between African markets and African capital,” he said.
He noted that NGX Group has been investing in technology and market infrastructure to make participation in public offers “more seamless,” positioning the Nigerian market as increasingly accessible, efficient and connected to investors both at home and abroad.
Describing Nigeria and Kenya as two of Africa’s most important economies with sophisticated financial markets and strong institutional investor communities, the NGX chair said there was “considerable opportunity for greater collaboration” between the two markets, whether through investment flows, shared market infrastructure, knowledge exchange or deeper institutional partnerships.
He praised the NSE for hosting the session and for its role in enabling dialogue between Nigerian and Kenyan capital-market participants, adding that the development of African capital markets “will depend not only on the strength of individual exchanges, but also on how effectively our markets connect with one another and facilitate the flow of capital across the continent.”
Nairobi, he observed, has firmly established itself as East Africa’s financial hub, making it a natural destination for the roadshow.
Kwairanga encouraged the investors present to interrogate the offer closely and engage directly with representatives of Dangote Industries and the Nigerian capital market.
“I encourage you to use this opportunity to ask the important questions, understand the opportunity in detail, and engage directly with the representatives of Dangote Industries and the Nigerian capital market,” he said.
He expressed hope that the session would “mark the beginning of deeper and more sustained connections between the investment communities of Kenya and Nigeria,” and thanked both the NSE and Dangote Industries for bringing the conversation to the East African investment community.
The Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest single-train refinery, is regarded as a flagship of Nigeria’s industrialisation drive, and its listing is widely expected to be one of the most closely watched public offers in the history of the Nigerian capital market.
