Giving average Africans opportunity to own a stake
Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery plans to raise slightly more than ₦2.15 trillion ($1.62 billion) through an initial public offering (IPO), founder Aliko Dangote said on Monday, in what he described as the biggest IPO in Africa’s history.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery issued a prospectus on 7 September for an initial public offering of up to 4.1 billion shares at NGN 525 (Nigerian Naira) per share, targeting gross proceeds of NGN 2.15 trillion ($1.62 billion). The offer will open on 14 September and close on 13 October, with an application submitted to list the shares on the Nigerian Exchange’s Main Board. After estimated expenses, net proceeds of NGN 2.11 trillion ($1.59 billion) will finance part of the refinery’s expansion programme.
The refinery will offer shares at ₦525 ($0.40) each, with a minimum subscription of 10 shares, Dangote said at an event unveiling the offer in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos. The IPO launching on September 14 is scheduled to close on October 13, with the shares expected to list on the Nigerian Exchange in November, according to the lead issuing house Vetiva Advisory Services.
Dangote said the offer is designed not only to finance the refinery’s expansion but also to give a broad base of Nigerians and other Africans an opportunity to own a stake in the business.
“We want every human being living on the continent to be part of this action,” Dangote said, adding that the group is targeting 10 million shareholders from Africa and potentially elsewhere.
The refinery, located on the outskirts of Lagos, currently has a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), making it Africa’s largest refinery, according to its Managing Director and CEO, David Bird.
The company plans to expand capacity to 1.4 million bpd by 2028, Bird said, with the expansion already engineered, procured and funded.
David Bird has indicated that the refinery will be operating as a merchant refinery, allowing it to process a range of crude oils and sell products into multiple markets rather than relying solely on Nigerian crude and domestic demand.
The refinery has also emerged as a major exporter of refined petroleum products. Bird said it is currently the largest supplier of jet fuel into Europe.
The IPO has been structured to facilitate participation by retail investors, according to Chuka Eseka, Group Managing Director and CEO of Vetiva Capital Management, parent company of the lead issuing house.
Retail investors will be able to subscribe digitally through banks, Fintech companies and other financial intermediaries, Eseka said.
The minimum investment of 10 shares would cost ₦5,250 ($3.98) at the offer price, potentially allowing smaller investors to participate.
Under the retail investor incentive program, eligible investors may receive up to two additional shares at no extra cost if they maintain the minimum prescribed shareholding for the applicable holding periods, subject to regulatory approval.
In the event of an oversubscription, the refinery may absorb up to 30% of the offer, also subject to regulatory approval, according to the transaction terms presented at the event.
Eseka said the structure has been designed to make participation easier for retail investors and to establish new standards for distributing capital-market offerings in Nigeria.
The offering also presents some structural challenges because the issuing entity is a free-zone company rather than a conventional Nigerian company incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), he said.
Dangote says the IPO is part of a broader strategy to accelerate industrialization in Africa, arguing that reliable energy supplies are essential to developing manufacturing and other industries on the continent.
The Dangote Group has also announced expansion plans into Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and other African countries, he said.
Bird said the refinery’s longer-term strategy includes expanding its petrochemical portfolio and distribution infrastructure across West Africa. The company plans to establish infrastructure in Namibia, including tank farms and a pipeline intended to serve inland markets, he said.
The programme aims to increase Dangote Refinery’s refining capacity from 700,000 barrels per day to approximately 1.4 million and polypropylene capacity from 830,000 tonnes to 2.4 million tonnes annually. Its estimated cost of $14.27 billion extends well beyond the IPO proceeds, with the balance expected to come from internal cash flows, debt, trade finance and project financing. The refinery reported $13.91 billion in revenue and $1.82 billion in profit for the first half of 2026, compared with a $282 million loss in the first half of 2025.
