Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is set to launch what he expects to become the continent’s largest initial public offering (IPO), with his Nigerian oil refinery seeking to raise up to $1.6 billion while giving ordinary Nigerians and other Africans an opportunity to own shares in the business.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals IPO is scheduled to open on September 14 and will target as many as 10 million shareholders across Africa.
The company will offer investors the opportunity to purchase a minimum of 10 shares at N525 per share, with the offer potentially raising N2.15 trillion, equivalent to about $1.6 billion.
Speaking in Lagos on Monday during an event to sign off on the IPO documentation, Dangote said raising capital was only one part of the broader objective behind the share sale.
He said the bigger ambition was to give ordinary Nigerians and Africans an opportunity to own a stake in what he described as one of the continent’s most significant industrial projects.
“It’s not really about raising funds. It’s about getting our own Africans generally to be part and parcel of this refinery,” Dangote said.
According to the billionaire industrialist, he wants the investment to become a long-term asset for ordinary people, drawing a comparison with US technology giant Amazon, whose early shareholders benefited substantially from the company’s growth.
“We are creating big corporations where we don’t want to be the only people enjoying. We want to spread this enjoyment to the rest of Africa,” he said.
The IPO, which is scheduled to close on October 13, is expected by Dangote to become the biggest in African history.
Located on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, the Dangote refinery began operations in 2024 and is one of the world’s largest single-train refineries.
The facility has become a major component of Dangote’s business empire, which also includes cement, sugar and fertiliser production.
Part of the funds to be raised through the IPO will be used to finance further expansion of the refinery as Dangote seeks to increase its capacity and strengthen its position as a major supplier of refined petroleum products.
Nigeria remains Africa’s leading crude oil producer, while the refinery has increasingly become a major player in the country’s petroleum products market.
With the planned expansion, Dangote said the facility is expected to become the world’s largest refinery by 2028.
The company has also announced plans to expand its operations into Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia as it seeks to build a wider African energy business.
The IPO has been structured to encourage participation from retail investors, including people with relatively modest incomes.
David Bird, Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, said the company wanted ordinary investors to play a central role in the offering.
“It’s very much an IPO for the people,” Bird said.
“We want to drive retail participation so that all Nigerians, no matter their income or status, can be a part of the wealth creation that will come from this immense industrial project and business that is not only currently operating at scale, but is growing.”
Bird described the refinery as “the world’s most modern, youngest, most energy-efficient, most automated, most data-rich refinery.”
Beyond Nigeria, the company is expanding its African footprint through projects including tank farms in Namibia and a pipeline designed to supply underserved inland markets.
“This is truly a Pan-African energy platform,” Bird said.
Analyst Bismark Rewane also encouraged young Nigerians to consider investing in the IPO, suggesting that buying shares could provide a more rewarding long-term investment opportunity than spending money on sports betting.
“I see this as democratization of the economy as against democratization of politics because so far democratization of politics has not been a fantastic success,” Rewane said.
The planned offering comes as Nigeria continues efforts to deepen its capital market and increase local participation in major businesses, with the Dangote refinery potentially becoming one of the country’s largest publicly accessible industrial investments.
