Dangote opens Africa's largest IPO at 525 naira a share

Aliko Dangote's group opened books on 14 September for 4.1 billion shares in Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE at 525 naira, about 40 US cents, a share. If the base offer is taken up in full it raises 2.15 trillion naira, or $1.6 billion at the prospectus rate of 1,323.74 naira to the dollar. A greenshoe of up to 30 percent could lift proceeds toward $2.1 billion. The price implies a valuation near 63 trillion naira, or about $47.6 billion, for the 700,000-barrel-a-day plant at Lekki.

The Nigerian Exchange said 402,634 transactions worth N1.476 trillion hit the system in the first hour, across about 55 approved digital channels: 20 banks, two mobile-money firms, NGX Invest and 32 fintech platforms. The minimum ticket is 10 shares, or N5,250 before charges, a figure Dangote has used to brand the sale a people's IPO. Trading, if the timetable holds, would start in late November. Books close on 13 October.

How the plant got to this price

The refinery took about ten years and roughly $20 billion to build. It started running in 2024, reached nameplate this year, and has supplied most of Nigeria's domestic gasoline. In the first half of 2026 it reported after-tax profit of $1.82 billion, against a $476 million loss for all of 2025. Management and outside coverage both tie the swing to product demand created by supply cuts linked to the Iran war, including jet-fuel sales into western Europe.

A private placement in July was marketed at $2.5 billion. It was oversubscribed and, on some accounts, raised $3.7 billion before $1.2 billion was returned so that stock could be reserved for the public book. Institutional names included the Africa Finance Corporation. That sale cut Dangote's holding to about 87 percent and, on Forbes's real-time ranking, lifted his fortune by about $20 billion to $51 billion. If the public offer is fully taken he would fall to about 84.4 percent, or 83.5 percent if the greenshoe is used.

Chief executive David Bird told Reuters the private-placement discount reflected lock-ups and other conditions accepted by institutions. The public book is being sold at a higher implied value. UAE state oil company ADNOC has said it is interested in the plant. Terms have not been disclosed.

Where the cash is meant to go

Prospectus language points the proceeds at a $14.3 billion expansion that would double capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2029. Dangote is separately discussing a $17 billion refinery on Kenya's Lamu Island, with equity offered to Nairobi and other East African governments. A 10 percent Kenyan stake in that project has been described as worth $500 million on the figures in circulation. A secondary listing in the United States has been mentioned as a later option, not as part of this offer.

Nigeria has spent years importing refined products while exporting crude. The Lekki plant reversed that pattern for gasoline inside the country. Listing a slice of it on NGX tests whether domestic savers, using bank apps and fintech rails, will fund the next increment of capacity. The first-hour print of N1.48 trillion says the order book is real. It does not yet say how much of that demand is retail, how much is flipped institutional paper, or what the stock will do when it actually lists.

For African exchanges the comparison set is thin. Few local IPOs have combined a hard-asset cash generator, a sub-$5 entry ticket and a headline valuation above $40 billion. If the book holds through 13 October, NGX will have hosted the continent's largest share sale. If it fades, the July private placement will look like the clearer price signal. Either way the refinery's run-rate now sits inside listed-market plumbing, which is the change that lasts after the gong ceremony in Lagos.