For African financiers, the start of trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange on March 8 last year was a sweet moment. On that morning, the sugar refining arm of Dangote Group – Nigeria’s towering industrial conglomerate – formally listed, completing a $420m initial public offering – the biggest in the country’s history.
The stock issue – largely to local investors and 40 per cent oversubscribed – symbolised a growing trend: African companies, assisted by African advisers and floating on African stock exchanges or borrowing from African banks to raise African money on an unprecedented scale.
