UPDATE 14 APRIL: Bloomberg has published an interview with Frank Mwiti, CEO of the Nairobi Securities Exchange, confirming that Dangote is aiming for a revolutionary new capital raise initial public offering (IPO) of shares, with shares offered on multiple African exchanges. Read the interview on Bloomberg. “The plan is to structure a pan-African IPO,” Frank Mwiti, CEO of the Nairobi exchange said after a meeting last week between the heads of African exchanges and billionaire Dangote in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.

The planned initial public offering (IPO) of shares of Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals is set to be Africa’s biggest capital raise using the IPO route. The offer could open in May and raise up to $5bn.

The offer is set to be for 5%-10% of the share capital of the company which some analysts value at between $40bn and $50bn.

On 1 April, the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) and the African Securities Exchanges Association brought together chief executives and senior representatives from leading securities exchanges to discuss how the Dangote refinery listing could be a pilot for cross-border capital formation and investor participation across African markets.

Dangote Group has appointed Stanbic IBTC Capital to coordinate the international placement and manage relationships with foreign investors, Vetiva Capital Management for expertise in the Nigerian market and sales to retail investors, and FirstCap (First Capital) for placements with Nigerian institutional investors, especially pension funds (story on African Markets).

World-beating refinery

The main asset of Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals is the giant refinery in Ibeju Lekki Free Zone, near Lagos. It cost $20bn to build, was commissioned in 2023 after a decade of work, and started operating in January 2024.

It is the world’s biggest single-train crude processor. It is operating at close to its capacity of 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day as it meets demand from countries whose supplies are disrupted by the US-Israel-Iran war. It has a huge 1,100km pipeline network and has led to building major roads and other infrastructure. The site is 2,500 hectares in size.

Last October, Bloomberg reported that Dangote announced plans to expand capacity over three years to handle 1.4m barrels per day of crude oil, making it potentially the world’s biggest refinery.

Bloomberg reported Dangote that he signed a deal with the Namibian Government to set up a tank farm storage facility to supply refined products to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. Reuters reported in July 2025 that this would include storage for 1.6m barrels of petrol and diesel. The tanks will be in the Walvis Bay harbour.

Afreximbank leads $4bn financing

On 31 March African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced that it had underwritten $2.5bn of a $4bn senior syndicated term loan in favour of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE. Afreximbank and Access Bank were appointed co-Mandated Lead Arrangers for the five-year facility.

Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, said:
“We take immense pride in being the single largest provider of financing to the Dangote Group. We do so primarily because Dangote is African. When we invest in ourselves, we do more than create jobs and wealth or expand government revenues; we build a secure and resilient future for our continent. This is why we are pleased to have invested about US$15 billion in the Dangote Group since 2015.

“The Dangote Refinery stands as a bold symbol of what African ambition, African capital and African execution can achieve at scale. Beyond expanding refining capacity, it is strengthening the foundations of Africa’s energy security, reducing dependence on imports and opening new frontiers for intra-African trade and industrial development.”

George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Afreximbank, and Aliko Dangote, President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Limited, joined by Afreximbank Board members and the Bank’s executive leadership during the signing ceremony in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo – Afreximbank).

Supplying Africa with fertilizer and plastic

In addition to refined premium motor spirity (petrol and diesel) and other refined products, Dangote’s giant plants have capacity to produce up to 3m metric tons of urea fertilizer each year.

On 6 April, during a visit by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, businessman Aliko Dangote said: “Over the past couple of days, we’ve been exporting fertiliser mostly to African countries, which we were not doing before. The same applies to petroleum products, which we are sending mainly to Africa. Last month alone, we exported almost 17 cargoes of petrol to other African countries.” (from The Africa Report).

It also aims to scale up group fertiliser and polypropylene plants, with polypropylene production to rise from 900,000 tons to 2.4m tons, according to Bloomberg. Polypropylene is used for textiles, packaging and consumer goods. Dangote said: “We have the capacity to produce polypropylene, which is in very high demand and very scarce because of what is happening in the Middle East.”

The refinery earns an expected $6.4bn a year in export revenues and the International Monetary Fund estimated last year that it could boost Nigeria’s non-oil GDP by 1.5% and increase official reserves by $5.5bn. When it reaches full capacity this year it would help turn Nigeria from a net importer of refined products into a net exporter. It meets 35%-50% of the national demand for petrol in addition to its exports.

The IMF said in a May 2025 Article IV press release that the refinery has created 150,000 jobs directly and indirectly, and 60,000 engineers have benefitted from training. (For IMF Article IV press release .pdf go to IMF eLibrary and search “Dangote” sort by “Recent to Old”, Annex IV pp 42ff).

NGN shares could pay USD dividends

The SECN and the NGX are reviewing a proposed innovative share structure for Dangote Refinery, based on the export revenues. Investors would use naira to buy the shares but could take dividends in US dollars (see African Markets).

The plan is to submit the prospectus to the SEC this month (April), followed by a national roadshow and opening the share offer in May. The shares could be listed for trading on the NGX main board in June or July.

The Dangote Group already has three companies listed on the NGX: Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar Refinery and NASCON Allied Industries. Dangote Cement is one of the most valuable companies on the NGX with market capitalisation (total value of all shares listed) of $10bn while Dangote Sugar is valued at $580m.

Cross-border capital

The 1 April meeting of African exchanges was attended by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX), Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), and Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), as well as officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SECN), issuing houses and Stanbic IBTC, Vetiva and FirstCap (see this report on Business Day Nigeria).

NGX CEO Emomotimi Agama said collaboration is key to unlocking Africa’s capital markets: “What we are building is not just about facilitating individual transactions, but about creating a sustainable framework that allows African capital to move more efficiently across borders. Deeper collaboration among our exchanges will be critical to unlocking liquidity and positioning Africa as a competitive global investment destination.”

Emomotimi Agama, Director-General of the SEC, said: “This moment represents a major step in our ambition to integrate Africa’s capital markets. It is about creating a unified investment landscape where African capital can be mobilized to finance Africa’s development.”

About Dangote

For recent profiles of Dangote and his ambitious plans to industrialize Africa, see The Economist and Moneyweek,