Dangote launches record IPO for Africa’s giant oil refinery

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has launched what is being described as Africa’s largest initial public offering (IPO), offering ordinary Nigerians an opportunity to buy shares in his giant oil refinery near Lagos.

The share sale involves 4.1 billion shares in Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals at 525 naira each.

The offering is expected to raise about $1.6 billion, with an option that could increase the total to around $2.1 billion.

The refinery is valued at approximately $47.6 billion. Reuters+1

Dangote has presented the offering as a “people’s IPO”, with the aim of widening public participation in one of Nigeria’s most significant industrial projects.

The minimum investment is about $4, making the offer accessible to small investors as well as institutions.

The refinery, located in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, began operations in 2024 after more than a decade of construction and an investment of about $20 billion.

It currently has a crude-processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, making it the world’s largest single-train refinery.

The company plans to expand capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029.

The IPO comes as the refinery expands its role in Nigeria’s energy market and becomes an increasingly important exporter of refined petroleum products.

Reuters reported that the refinery made a net profit of $1.82 billion in the first half of 2026, compared with a loss of $476 million in the same period of 2025.

The proceeds from the share sale are expected to help finance the refinery’s planned expansion.

Dangote has also raised billions of dollars through private investment as he seeks to expand the business and strengthen its position in international energy markets.

Aliko Dangote, 68, is the founder and chairman of Dangote Industries, one of Africa’s largest business groups.

He began his business career as a young man trading commodities before building a conglomerate with interests in cement, sugar, salt, fertiliser and petrochemicals.

Dangote Cement became the foundation of much of his wealth and grew into Africa’s largest cement producer.

His latest major venture is the Lagos refinery, which represents a shift from importing refined petroleum products towards producing and exporting them from Nigeria.

Dangote, who has been described by Reuters as Africa’s richest man, has built his business around manufacturing and import substitution.

His refinery is now central to his ambition of expanding industrial production in Nigeria and across Africa.