L R: Co-Chair, Board of Trustees, The Africa Center, New York, Jendayi Frazer; representative of the President of Rwanda and Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Development Board, Jean Guy Afrika; Group Vice President, Oil & Gas and Fertiliser, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin; President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote; Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo Olu; Group Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Oil & Gas, Fertiliser and WAEP, Dangote Industries Limited, Fatima Aliko Dangote; and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, during the 2026 ADF Africa Diaspora Leadership Programme Young Global Leaders Convening at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, on Thursday, September 10, 2026
Susan Abayomi
The planned Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is attracting attention across Africa, with business and political leaders backing the ambition to broaden participation in one of the continent’s biggest industrial assets.
The offering is being positioned as an opportunity to give a wider pool of investors, including retail investors, access to the refinery and allow more Africans to participate in the value created by a major home-grown industrial project.
The refinery’s Chief Executive Officer, David Bird, said the company’s intention was to make the offering a “people’s IPO” by encouraging broad participation from Nigerians, members of the Nigerian diaspora and investors across Africa.
The IPO is expected to involve 4.1 billion ordinary shares priced at ₦525 each, potentially raising about ₦2.15 trillion. The offer is scheduled to run from September 14 to October 13, 2026, with the shares expected to begin trading later in the year, subject to the completion of the listing process.
The offering comes as Dangote Refinery prepares for a major expansion. The company has announced plans to invest about $14.3 billion to increase its refining capacity from 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029.
The expansion is expected to strengthen the refinery’s role in supplying refined petroleum products to Nigeria and other African markets, while supporting the company’s broader plans for growth in the energy sector.
The refinery, which began operations in 2024 after an estimated $20 billion construction investment, has already changed Nigeria’s position in the regional refined petroleum products market. Its operations have also expanded into exports, including the supply of aviation fuel to markets in Africa and Europe.
According to Reuters, the refinery recorded an after-tax profit of $1.82 billion in the first half of 2026, compared with a $476 million loss recorded for the whole of 2025.
The IPO therefore represents not only a capital-raising exercise but also a significant test of investor appetite for large-scale African industrial ventures.
With the offer designed to encourage participation from smaller investors, its success could further strengthen the role of African capital markets in financing major infrastructure and industrial projects on the continent.
