What is an initial public offering?

An initial public offering, or IPO, is the sale of a company’s shares on the stock market for the first time.  As part of Nigeria’s privatisation programme, the sale of shares in IPOs is reserved for Nigerian citizens only, and even then the amount that can be purchased by any one individual or institutional investor is strictly limited.  This is to avoid a concentration of shares in the hands of a small group of individuals or companies.