Key facts
- Aliko Dangote launched Africa's largest share sale on Monday, offering 4.1 billion shares of his Nigerian oil refinery at 525 naira each.
- The offer, which values the refinery at approximately $47 billion, runs through Oct. 13.
- The IPO could raise as much as $2.1 billion if the company exercises its greenshoe option.
- The refinery processes 700,000 barrels of crude a day.
- The refinery reported an after-tax profit of $1.82 billion for the first half of 2026.
- The company plans to use proceeds toward a $14.3-billion expansion to double capacity by 2029.
Aliko Dangote launched Africa's largest share sale on Monday, offering 4.1 billion shares of his Nigerian oil refinery at 525 naira each. The offer, which values the refinery at approximately $47 billion, runs through Oct. 13 and could raise as much as $2.1 billion if the company exercises its greenshoe option. The refinery, which processes 700,000 barrels of crude a day, has benefited financially from supply disruptions linked to the Iran war, which increased demand for its jet fuel across Africa and Europe. It reported an after-tax profit of $1.82 billion for the first half of 2026, compared with a $476 million loss for all of 2025. Dangote plans to use the proceeds toward a $14.3-billion expansion that would double the refinery's capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2029. The ~$20-billion plant outside of Lagos has supplied most of Nigeria's domestic gasoline since starting operations in 2024. Dangote has marketed the offer to ordinary Nigerians, who can buy as few as 10 shares through fintech platforms. Lagos business owner Chris Chijioke told Reuters he would buy 2,000 shares but called the offer "overvalued," citing the risk that the expansion could be delayed. Journalist Ibrahim Abubakar said he would take about 2,850 shares because he considers the refinery "too big to fail." UAE state oil company ADNOC has expressed interest in investing in the refinery, though terms haven't been disclosed. Dangote is separately in talks to build a $17 billion refinery on Kenya's Lamu Island, offering equity stakes to Kenya and other East African governments; Kenya's 10 percent share alone would be worth $500 million. Dangote has said he expects demand for the IPO to mirror a July private placement that was 3.7 times oversubscribed.