Dangote Refinery Launches Africa’s Largest Share Sale

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote on Monday launched the initial public offering of his oil refinery, opening ownership of the plant to retail investors and raising funds for its expansion.

The offer comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares priced at 525 naira each. It opened at 8am local time and will close on October 13.

If fully subscribed, the offer would raise 2.15 trillion naira ($1.6 billion). The proceeds could increase to about $2.1 billion if the offer is oversubscribed and the company exercises a greenshoe option to issue additional shares.

Built at a cost of about $20 billion on the outskirts of Lagos, the refinery began operations in 2024 and has since become a major supplier of domestically produced gasoline in Nigeria.

The refinery also supplies jet fuel across Africa and Europe and has benefited from supply disruptions linked to the Iran war, which increased demand for its aviation fuel.

Dangote has marketed the share sale to ordinary Nigerians, who can buy as few as 10 shares through fintech and other digital investment platforms.

“There is no segregation on who can own these shares. We want everyone … to own a share,” Dangote said at a signing ceremony last week.

The refinery currently processes 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day and aims to increase capacity to 1.4 million barrels by 2029.

The offer values the refinery at about $47 billion, according to Reuters calculations. Dangote has said he expects demand for the IPO to reflect a private placement in July that was 3.7 times oversubscribed.

The final amount raised will depend on investor subscriptions and any exercise of the greenshoe option.

SOURCE: Reuters