Dangote says $5bn Refinery IPO opening within days alongside major African expansion plans

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has announced that the long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) for the continent’s largest oil facility—the Dangote Refinery—will open within the next 10 to 12 days.

Aiming to raise approximately $5 billion, the blockbuster listing comes alongside ambitious expansion blueprints, including a targeted capacity doubling to 1.4 million barrels per day, a planned London Stock Exchange secondary listing for Dangote Cement in October, and a major new refinery project slated for Kenya.

“So our dream is that we want to make sure we double the capacity of the refinery … which will take us to 1.4 million barrels per day. The IPO will open in the next 10 to 12 days,” Dangote told investors and analysts in Botswana, while visiting the Southern African country.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is a massive milestone for African industrialisation and global energy markets. Located in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, Nigeria, it stands as the largest single-train refinery in the world.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery reached full nameplate capacity in February and has already tested output at 700,000 barrels per day.

Read also: Dangote says refinery IPO to open within days

Buoyed by strong operational performance, the enterprise’s private funding rounds and upcoming public offerings peg its valuation between $40 billion and $50 billion.

Having recently wrapped up a heavily oversubscribed $2.5 billion private placement, the upcoming $5 billion IPO is on track to be the largest equity market listing in African history, primarily listing on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) with cross-border capital attraction.

Aliko Dangote has previously indicated plans to structure a unique dividend framework for the refinery. The proposal aims to allow investors to purchase shares in Naira on the NGX while receiving dividends paid out in US Dollars, supported by the refinery’s substantial foreign exchange (FX) earning export streams (such as petrochemicals and refined fuel exports).

Dangote Petroleum Refinery formally submitted its initial public offering application to Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Emomotimi Agama, director general of the SEC confirmed receipt of the filing and stated that the commission sees no major regulatory hurdles or obstacles that would derail the process.

Vital details like the final share price, exact opening dates, formal allocation rules, and the official prospectus will only become legally active and public once the SEC grants its final approval.

The Dangote Group plans to float approximately 5 percent to 10 percent of the refinery’s total equity through the initial public offering (IPO).

Financial analysts estimate that a single listing of this magnitude could instantly boost total NGX market capitalisation by 30 percent to 40 percent, with the refinery alone accounting for roughly a quarter of the exchange’s entire total value.

Beyond its core Lagos base, the Dangote Group is leveraging its refining success to build a broader pan-African energy presence, notably spearheading plans for a major new coastal refinery project in Kenya to service the East African market.

The businessman also said the secondary listing of Dangote Cement, another flagship company in his industrial empire, on the London Stock Exchange would most likely be in October, a move that could broaden its access to international investors and capital.

Dangote is also planning to build a new refinery on Kenya’s coast in partnership with East African governments. The project, which is expected to take up to three years to complete, would supply refined petroleum products to Kenya and neighbouring countries, helping reduce East Africa’s reliance on imported fuels.

It would mark Dangote Group’s biggest refining investment outside Nigeria. “We are launching it on September 30,” he said.

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