Foreign investors pass vote of confidence in Dangote Industries purchasing 410m of its shares on NSE

DANGOTE Industries has enjoyed a massive influx of foreign capital over the last few days with investors purchasing 410m of its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) valued at N86.1bn ($250m) at a cost of N210 per share.

In a sure sign of confidence in the company and its operations, investors bought the shares at the off-market price of N210 in six separate deals. Mallam Garba Kurfi,  the managing director,  APT Securities and Funds, said that the details of the foreign investors were yet to be revealed.

However, Mallam Kurfi said that the transaction was perfected at N210 against the normal market price of N222.22 per share. He said some foreign investors were taking position in the company due to its capacity building and high investment yield.

Mallam Kurfi recalled that in 2013, Dangote Industries sold 1.5% of its 95% stake in Africa’s biggest cement producer to South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation for $289.3m. Consequently,  Dangote Cement became the most traded with a turnover of  417.76m shares valued at N87.76bn.

Yesterday, Dangote's peak place on the NSE was followed by FBN Holdings with 61.01m shares worth N367.53m, while Access Bank exchanged 39.86m shares valued at N399.59m. United Bank for Africa sold 38.43m shares valued at N371.84m.

This volume of shares traded improved by 73.33% as investors staked N94.05bn on 849.6m shares transacted in 5,602 deals. This was against the 490.16m shares valued at N5.27bn achieved in 5,558 deals.

The NSE's All-Share Index closed upbeat, increasing by 876.62 points or 2.45% to close at 36,720.62 against 35,844.00 on Monday. Market capitalisation, which opened at N12.353trn, inched N302bn or 2.44% to close at N12.655trn.

Nestle recorded the highest gain to lead the gainers’ table with N21.30, closing at N102.50 per share. Dangote Cement followed with a gain of N16.25  to close at N240 and Guinness appreciated by N1.50  to close at N66.55 per share.