Dangote Refinery targets US stock exchange after Nigerian IPO

President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has said the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals will seek a listing on a United States (US) stock exchange within the next three to four years as the company expands its refining and petrochemical operations.

Dangote disclosed this on Monday at the opening of the refinery’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), saying the planned foreign listing would follow the expansion of the refinery’s capacity and broader investments in the business.

“In the next three to four years, by the grace of God, we’ll try and also list outside the African continent, most likely in the US,” he said.

He said the expansion would take the refinery beyond its current operations, with the group planning to increase refining capacity and add petrochemical production. According to Dangote, the group has a $46 billion investment pipeline covering the expansion of its various businesses as it works towards its 2030 vision.

“We have an amount of money that we want to spend to expand the group-wide operations. We have $46 billion in the pipeline to invest in and expand our various businesses to take us to the 2030 vision. I think we are on track and we’ll keep tasking ourselves to make sure we achieve our target,” he said.

Dangote also said the group would continue to use the Nigerian Exchange as a major platform for bringing its businesses to the investing public, stating that every company operated by the group would eventually be listed. “We as a group will list every single company that we operate,” he said.

He further projected that the group’s market capitalisation could rise to at least $350 billion by 2030, based on a 10 times price-to-earnings ratio, with the valuation initially represented on the Nigerian Exchange.

“I don’t know about the others, but I know our own market cap, even at a 10 times P-E ratio by 2030, should not be less than $350 billion. It would be from this exchange too. Then we can go to any other place,” he said.

The planned US listing is part of a broader expansion strategy that Dangote said would increase the scale of the refinery and broaden its product range. The company’s current expansion plan, however, is expected to first take refining capacity to about 1.4 million barrels per day. Reports state that the refinery plans to spend $14.3 billion on the expansion, with completion targeted for 2029.

Dangote said the group had already secured more than it needed to execute its immediate projects and therefore presented the IPO primarily as a means of broadening ownership rather than simply raising funds.

“The primary purpose of this offer is to democratise wealth creation,” he said.

“It is not really about a question of raising money alone, because I believe we have actually raised more than what we need as a group to execute all our projects,” he said.

He said the group had initially planned to raise $2.5 billion through a combination of private placement and the IPO, comprising $1 billion from the private placement and $1.5 billion from the public offer. According to him, demand during the private placement was strong enough to result in $1.2 billion worth of applications being returned, while the group proceeded with its planned $2.5 billion funding target.

“We ended up returning a lot of applications, their money, which is $1.2 billion, and we took only $2.5 billion. So, $2.5 billion is exactly what we planned to do for us to expand the business and take it to the next level. So, with the private placement, we have already met all our demands,” he said.

Dangote said the public offer was therefore intended to give Nigerians and other investors an opportunity to participate in the ownership of the refinery after the private placement.

The IPO comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares offered at N525 each, with the offer targeting about N2.15 trillion. The offer opened on 14 September 2026 and is expected to close on 13 October. Dangote said the decision to open ownership to the public was intended to extend the benefits of the refinery beyond its existing owners and institutional investors.

“So, this ownership should actually be expanded to allow ordinary people to participate and also share the prosperity that we have created and will continue to create,” he said, stating that the refinery was expected to become the largest company in Africa by the end of the year, based on revenue and profitability.

“So, you are buying a company that is not only by revenue, but profitability will be way ahead of several companies,” Dangote said.

The refinery, which began operations in 2024, currently has a refining capacity of about 700,000 barrels per day. It was reported that the company recorded $1.82 billion in net profit in the first half of 2026 on revenue of more than $13 billion.

Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group, Umaru Kwairanga, said the offer would demonstrate the capacity of the Nigerian capital market to support businesses operating at a large scale and connect them with a wider pool of investors.

“But its importance goes beyond the numbers. It represents an opportunity to demonstrate the capacity of our capital market to support enterprise at a scale and to connect Nigerian businesses with a broader community of investors,” Kwairanga said.

He said the development of Africa would require deeper capital markets capable of connecting African savings with African enterprises and financing businesses that could compete globally. “African development will require deeper and more effective capital markets capable of connecting African savings with African enterprises and financing businesses that can compete on the global stage,” he said.

Kwairanga said NGX was working to build and strengthen investors’ confidence in its integrity, transparency and efficiency. He also noted the wider participation expected from the Dangote Group, following Dangote’s commitment to bring more of its businesses to the exchange.

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who spoke earlier, said the offer demonstrated the ability of African investors to fund businesses on the continent, describing the transaction as an opportunity to deepen Nigeria’s capital market. “Africa is the one that can indeed fund and invest in Africa. And we’re demonstrating that here today,” Sanwo-Olu said.

He said the offer should expand access to the capital market beyond existing investors and create opportunities for more Nigerians to participate in the ownership of major businesses. “But more importantly, to all the professionals in this room this morning, this is about you. This is about market creation. This is about deepening the market,” he said.

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