Dangote refinery IPO opens a historic N2.15tn sale on the NGX as Aliko Dangote offers 4.1 billion shares at N525 each

The President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, sounded the opening gong on the trading floor of the Nigerian Exchange in Lagos on Monday, 14 September 2026, to launch the N2.15tn Dangote refinery IPO of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals.

Also read: Dangote Beats US, Ships N757bn Jet Fuel to Europe

The ceremony marked the start of an offer of 4.1 billion new ordinary shares at N525 each. If fully taken up, the sale would raise N2.15tn, about $1.6bn, and stand as Africa’s largest initial public offering to date.

A minimum application is 10 shares, or N5,250, a low entry point aimed at retail buyers as well as institutions and eligible African investors.

Mr Dangote called the sale a People’s IPO and said the plant in the Lekki Free Zone should not remain a closed family asset. “We fully share all our prosperity with the people. That’s why we call this ‘People’s IPO’. We know the journey has actually just started. It’s not only about the refinery.”

The offer is the first time a refinery has been put to investors on the Exchange in its 66 year history. Books opened at 8am local time and are due to close on 13 October 2026, subject to the prospectus.

Trading is expected in late November. Early demand was brisk. Reports from the floor said more than N10bn, about $7m, was committed in the first hour.

The plant was built over about a decade at a cost of roughly $20bn. It began operations in 2024 and is now running at full tilt, processing about 700,000 barrels of crude a day.

Proceeds are meant to help fund an expansion to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2029, a project put at about $14.3bn. After a loss in 2025, the company reported a first half 2026 net profit of $1.82bn.

Context matters. In July the group raised money through a private placement that was 3.7 times subscribed and brought in institutions such as the Africa Finance Corporation.

That sale diluted Mr Dangote’s holding but left him firmly in control. The public slice on offer is only about 3.3 per cent of the enlarged company.

At N525 a share the implied value of the refinery is about N63tn, or roughly $47bn to $50bn, a steep premium to many global refining multiples. Supporters point to local fuel demand, planned dollar dividends and the chance to cut import dependence. Sceptics will watch whether the listing price holds once the shares trade.

Mr Dangote cast the float as the start of a wider listing plan. “We, as a group, will list every single company that will operate. I don’t know about the others, but I know our own market cap, even at a 10 times P/E ratio by 2030, should not be less than $350 billion.” He added that Nigeria and Africa would remain the base from which other exchanges could follow.

Among those present were Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, President and Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Umaru Kwairanga, the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, Zenith Bank founder Jim Ovia, and Devakumar V.G. Edwin, Vice President, Oil and Gas and Fertiliser at Dangote Industries Limited. Members of the Dangote family, including two of Mr Dangote’s daughters, also attended, a small human note on a day built around public ownership.

Also read: Dangote Beats US, Ships N757bn Jet Fuel to Europe

The Dangote refinery IPO does not change who runs the plant. It does, however, invite ordinary investors into one of the continent’s most ambitious industrial projects, at a price that starts with ten shares and a claim that prosperity should be shared.