President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has declared that ordinary Nigerians, including drivers, cooks and domestic servants, will have the opportunity to own stakes in the $20 billion Dangote Refinery through its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Dangote made the declaration on Monday in Lagos while delivering the opening speech at the signing ceremony for the historic IPO of the 650,000 barrels-per-day facility.
Dangote, who is leading the refinery’s transition to the public market, said the objective was to ensure that ownership of the massive industrial project was not restricted to wealthy investors and financial institutions.
“What we are trying to achieve is to make sure our drivers, cooks, servants, and everybody have the opportunity of having stakes in the refinery,” he declared.
Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, were among other financial experts attending the historic refinery’s IPO signing ceremony in Lagos State.
The event will see the private refinery offer 4.1 billion ordinary shares of $0.000013 each for subscription at ₦525.00 per share.
The ceremony, led by the leadership of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, headed by Aliko Dangote, President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, marks the refinery’s first public offer since its inauguration in 2023, after nearly 10 years of construction and an investment of approximately $20 billion.
Located in the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos, the facility has a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, making it Africa’s largest single-train refinery.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the launch of the IPO, “paving the way for what could become one of the largest capital market transactions in Nigeria’s history”, the company said.
The listing is expected on September 14, according to a company official.
Proceeds from the public float are intended to fund a massive expansion of the Lagos-based facility, raising processing capacity from its current operational baseline of 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4 million bpd.
Achieving that target would make it the largest operating oil refinery in the world, surpassing India’s Jamnagar complex.
The capital raise follows a $2.5 billion private placement completed in July.
At the offer price of ₦525 per share, the market valuation of the refinery stands at approximately $47 billion.
If fully subscribed, the listing will single-handedly increase total market capitalisation on the NGX by an estimated 30 to 40 per cent.
The Dangote Refinery was commissioned in May 2023.
While the refinery currently meets more than 80 per cent of Nigeria’s domestic petrol demand, long-term returns remain tied to crude feedstock availability, export growth and refining margins.
Data from the Africa Finance Corporation indicates that African nations spend over $230 billion annually on imported commodities, with refined fuel accounting for more than 70 per cent of regional consumption. The Dangote Group is positioning its refining capacity to address this regional deficit.
As part of its broader footprint, the group also plans to break ground on a 700,000-bpd coastal facility in Lamu, Kenya, on September 30.
The upcoming September 14 public offering will serve as a key indicator of market liquidity on the domestic exchange and investor demand for large-scale industrial assets.
