Nigerian billionaire Dangote launches oil refinery IPO, Africa's biggest share sale

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote on Monday launched Africa's largest share sale yet with the initial public offering of his oil refinery, opening up ownership of the plant to retail investors and raising money for its expansion.

The offer of 4.1 ​billion ordinary shares at 525 naira each opened at 0800 local time (0700 GMT) and will ​close on October 13. If fully subscribed, it would raise 2.15 trillion naira ($1.6 billion), though ⁠that could rise to roughly $2.1 billion if the offer is oversubscribed and the company decides to ​use a greenshoe option to issue more shares.

Chris Chijioke, a business owner based in the country's ​commercial capital Lagos, said he would buy 2,000 shares as the size of the refinery and Dangote's track record as a businessman made a strong case. He expressed concern, however, about the price of the share sale, saying that ​if plans to double the refinery's capacity get delayed then the offer price would not be ​justified. "I personally think it is overvalued," he told Reuters.

Built at a cost of ‌about $20 billion ⁠on the outskirts of Lagos, the refinery has reshaped Nigeria's fuel market since it started operations in 2024. It supplies most of Nigeria's domestically produced gasoline and has benefited financially from supply disruptions linked to the Iran war, which increased demand for Dangote's jet fuel across Africa and in Europe.

Africa's richest man ​has marketed the offer ​to ordinary Nigerians, who ⁠can participate by buying as few as 10 shares through fintech and other digital investment platforms. Ibrahim Abubakar, a journalist, said he would take up roughly ​2,850 shares because he believed the refinery was "too big to fail".

It processes ​700,000 barrels ⁠of crude a day and hopes to increase that to 1.4 million barrels by 2029. The offer values the plant at about $47 billion, according to Reuters calculations. Dangote has said he expects interest in the ⁠IPO to ​mirror a private placement in July that was 3.7 times ​oversubscribed.