Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery launches $1.6bn IPO in Africa’s largest share sale

Nigeria's Dangote Petroleum Refinery has launched what is expected to be Africa's largest initial public offering, offering 4.1bn newly issued shares at NGN525 each to raise NGN2.15 trillion ($1.6bn), with potential proceeds of about $2.1bn if the offer is oversubscribed and a greenshoe option is exercised.

The IPO is a primary issuance, meaning the proceeds will go to the refinery rather than existing shareholders selling down their holdings. The new shares will represent about 3.3% of the enlarged share capital. The offer opened on September 14 and closes on October 13, with trading expected to begin in late November, Reuters reported.

Dangote has marketed the transaction as a retail-focused "people's IPO", with a minimum subscription of 10 shares, or NGN5,250, and applications available through approved digital channels. The official IPO site confirms the NGN525 offer price and minimum investment.

Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest man and founder of Dangote Group, said the aim was to "democratise wealth creation" by allowing ordinary Nigerians to invest directly in the refinery.

At NGN525 a share, the offer values the refinery's existing shares at about NGN63 trillion ($47.6bn). After adding the 4.1bn new IPO shares, the implied post-offer market capitalisation rises to roughly $49bn.

The July private placement raised about $2.5bn for roughly 6% of the refinery, at a valuation Reuters put at about $40bn. The placement was 3.7 times subscribed and attracted African and international institutional investors, sovereign-linked funds and development finance institutions.

The approved offer is substantially smaller than the $5bn IPO application submitted to Nigerian regulators in August, potentially making the flotation easier for the domestic market to absorb while sharpening the focus on its valuation, as IntelliNews reported on September 5.

Proceeds will support Dangote's planned $14.3bn expansion to double refining capacity from 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4mn bpd by 2029. Even if the IPO raises the maximum $2.1bn, it would cover only a fraction of the expansion cost, with Dangote also considering internally generated cash, bonds and private placements, as IntelliNews reported on September 8.

The refinery, built outside Lagos for about $20bn, began operations in 2024 and reached its current 700,000-bpd capacity this year.

The plant reported net profit of $1.82bn on revenue exceeding $13bn in the first half of 2026, compared with a $476mn loss for the whole of 2025, according to the prospectus cited by Reuters. Its earnings have benefited from stronger demand for refined products amid supply disruptions linked to the Iran war.

Dangote has said the refinery's long-term investment case does not depend on windfalls from the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts, despite the boost recent supply disruptions have given earnings.

The refinery has already changed Nigeria's fuel market by reducing dependence on imported products while increasing refined-product exports to other African markets and Europe.

Dangote said he eventually intends to list all the companies in his industrial conglomerate and that the refinery could pursue a secondary US listing within three to four years.