Two of Nigeria’s leading corporate law firms have extended their long-running relationship with the Dangote Group after securing key legal roles in the initial public offering (IPO) of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE.
According to Nairametrics’ review of the IPO prospectus, Banwo & Ighodalo and Olaniwun Ajayi LP, which have previously advised on major financing transactions involving the Dangote Refinery and other companies within the Dangote Group, are among three leading Nigerian law firms appointed to the transaction.
AELEX is the third Nigerian law firm involved in the IPO, which involves an offer of up to 4.1 billion ordinary shares and could become one of the most consequential capital-market transactions in Nigeria’s history.
The offer prospectus identifies Banwo & Ighodalo as Solicitor to the Issuer, Dangote Refinery, while Olaniwun Ajayi is identified as Solicitors to the Offer. The appointments put some of Nigeria’s biggest commercial law practices at the centre of the refinery’s public offering.
The prospectus also stated that Ms. Fatima Aliko-Dangote is a member of the Nigerian Bar and “was an Associate at Banwo & Ighodalo.”
For Banwo & Ighodalo and Olaniwun Ajayi, however, the IPO represents more than another major mandate, as both firms have repeatedly appeared on some of the largest financing transactions involving businesses controlled by billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote.
Banwo & Ighodalo’s appointment as Solicitor to the Issuer places the Lagos-based commercial law firm directly on the side of the company offering its shares to the Nigerian investing public. The appointment extends a relationship built through several major transactions involving the Dangote Group.
Olaniwun Ajayi has similarly featured prominently in major Dangote transactions, although it has sometimes represented financiers and other parties sitting across the table from the Dangote Group.
The firm was involved in the recent $4 billion syndicated term loan to the Dangote Refinery, advising Afreximbank, Access Bank and the syndicate of lenders. This meant Banwo & Ighodalo and Olaniwun Ajayi were effectively on different sides of the same transaction, with the former advising the refinery and the latter advising the lenders.
It has also worked on earlier financing connected with the construction of the Dangote Refinery and petrochemical complex.
Its latest role on the IPO therefore adds another major Dangote transaction to a relationship spanning corporate finance, banking and capital markets.
Nigeria’s leading corporate law firms have become important participants in the country’s biggest financial transactions, working alongside investment banks, issuing houses, auditors and other advisers.
Their mandates have ranged from multibillion-dollar project finance and syndicated loans to bonds, commercial paper programmes, acquisitions and energy transactions.
The refinery IPO now extends that track record as Dangote Petroleum Refinery moves from a privately financed industrial project towards a publicly owned company with potentially millions of Nigerian shareholders.
