…Says it’s not charity
By Abimbola Joseph
CITIZENS COMPASS— A financial analyst, Hesed Sign, on Saturday, urged Nigerians interested in the Dangote Refinery Initial Public Offering (IPO) to look beyond the publicity and examine the numbers before investing.
Sign gave the advice in an interview with Citizen Compass in Lagos.
She said prospective investors should study the prospectus, financial statements, valuation, risks and potential returns, rather than make decisions based solely on the reputation of the refinery’s billionaire founder.
“When a multibillion-dollar company opens its doors to the investing public, the first question should not be whether the billionaire behind it is being generous.
“It should be: what exactly is the investor buying, and what does the company gain?” he said.
She said the question had become important amid narratives suggesting that making shares in the refinery available to Nigerians was primarily an effort “to help the poor.”
According to her, an IPO is not a charity programme but a capital-market transaction through which a company raises money by selling ownership to investors.
“Ultra-high-net-worth individuals do not build industrial complexes of this scale for charity,” he said.
Sign explained that companies generally raise capital through debt or equity, with debt involving borrowing and repayment obligations, while equity involves selling part of a company’s ownership to raise funds.
She said Dangote Refinery had used both approaches, noting that its construction involved substantial borrowing and financial obligations that must be serviced irrespective of market conditions.
“Every dollar funnelled into servicing interest is a dollar that cannot simultaneously be deployed toward other operational needs,” Sign said.
She said equity financing could provide additional capital, strengthen a company’s balance sheet, support expansion and reduce dependence on further borrowing.
Sign stressed, the transaction also puts the spotlight on the people providing the capital — the investors.
“When you buy shares on an exchange, you are an investor committing capital in pursuit of risk-adjusted returns,” he said.
She explained that members of the public buying shares were not receiving free money but committing their personal funds to a business while accepting the possibility of gains or losses.
“That distinction becomes even more important when retail participation is described as an opportunity for ‘the poor’,” he said.
The financial analyst questioned the description, asking: “How do ‘poor people’ correlate with ‘investors’?”
She said anyone who commits personal savings to acquire shares becomes an investor, participates in the ownership of the company, assumes financial risk and expects potential returns.
“That is fundamentally different from receiving a cash grant,” he said.
The analyst said the public offer should therefore be assessed through the fundamentals of capital markets, including ownership, valuation, dilution, debt, earnings, cash flow, liquidity and risk.
She also urged prospective investors to examine the refinery’s financial history, noting that the business recorded substantial losses during its first two years of commercial operations before subsequently reporting a significant profit in the first half of 2026.
“For prospective investors, that history matters,” he said.
Sign said the reported turnaround from losses to profitability should prompt investors to examine what drove the improvement, whether it is sustainable and how the company plans to finance its next phase of expansion.
She added that changes in the market value of the refinery could also affect the value of the founder’s stake, stressing the difference between paper wealth and cash.
“If investors collectively rush to sell in a market with limited liquidity, share prices can fall,” he said.
Sign therefore advised Nigerians to treat the IPO as an investment decision rather than a feel-good campaign.
She urged prospective shareholders to examine the company’s financial statements, business model, debt obligations, expansion plans, valuation and associated risks before committing their money.
“The public can participate in ownership without that participation becoming charity,” he said.
“The message is straightforward: Nigerians who put their money into the company are not merely beneficiaries of a billionaire’s generosity.
“They are shareholders. They are investors, and investors deserve to be spoken to as investors,” she added
