Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Femi Otedola has indicated plans to invest $100 million in the forthcoming Initial Public Offering of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals.

He disclosed this during a visit on Wednesday, when he led the board and senior executives of First Holdco Plc and its subsidiaries to inspect the refinery complex in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.

Otedola, who chairs First Holdco, said the planned investment was one of the key reasons behind his decision to exit his stake in power generation company Geregu Power Plc.

Speaking with journalists after a tour of the refinery, Otedola praised the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, for his contributions to industrial development across Africa.

He noted that he had accompanied Dangote to six countries for the commissioning of cement plants, highlighting the scale and reach of the group’s operations on the continent.

Otedola said he asked Dangote, ‘’Can we visit, come for a retreat and tap from your vision and has been very insightful, really thought-provoking. I wish Alhaji Aliko [Dangote], who is a colossus, a genius, probably one of the greatest men that has come out of Africa, for delivering us out of economic slavery in Nigeria and by extension Africa.

“’I have no doubt in my mind, I’ve seen what he’s done in Africa. I’ve been to six countries to commission his cement plants. Very remarkable.

‘’On a personal note, I’ve appealed to him; I have been here with him 25 times. So, my compensation is that he is going to allocate to me shares worth $100 million in the private placement. That is one of the reasons why I sold my stake in Geregu plant to come and invest my proceeds in the IPO of the Dangote Refinery.’’

The planned $100 million investment by Otedola forms part of the $2 billion private placement being sought by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals from private investors ahead of its expected Initial Public Offering.

The Dangote Group has said the visit by the First Holdco delegation reflects a growing alignment between Africa’s industrial and financial sectors, driven by a shared conviction that the continent’s future depends on production, infrastructure development, energy security, and sustained investment in local capacity.

Chairman of the group, Aliko Dangote, said at the event that the Dangote Refinery is targeting a September launch for its IPO, following what he described as overwhelming investor demand running into billions of dollars.

He added that strong interest in the offer had already been expressed by investors even before its official market debut.

He said, “Right now, when we even say we are going to do private placement, already we have people who have actually requested to buy. And we have an amount of almost $2 billion.

“We are not selling after that, but we’ll see what we can allocate to them. We can see what we can allocate to an IPO.”

He also disclosed that the refinery’s IPO is structured primarily to encourage broad public participation, with the objective of achieving wider ownership among the investing public.