By Kparobo Ehvwubare

Dangote Petroleum Refinery is set to make history on Nigeria’s capital market with a ₦2.15 trillion ($1.63 billion) public offering that could become Africa’s largest-ever share sale.

The refinery will offer 4.1 billion ordinary shares at ₦525 each, opening the door for millions of retail investors in Nigeria, across the African continent and in the diaspora to take a stake in one of Africa’s most ambitious industrial projects.

The offer is scheduled to open on September 14, 2026, and close on October 13, with trading expected to commence on the Nigerian Exchange in late November.

With a minimum subscription of just 10 shares, costing ₦5,250, the offer is deliberately structured to attract small investors alongside institutional and high-net-worth buyers.

From losses to a $1.82bn profit

The share sale comes as the refinery undergoes a dramatic financial transformation.

According to its IPO prospectus, the refinery recorded an after-tax profit of $1.82 billion in the first half of 2026, reversing a $476 million loss recorded for the whole of 2025.

The turnaround has been driven by the refinery reaching full operational capacity and benefiting from disruptions to global refining and fuel supply.

Dangote now plans to invest $14.3 billion in an expansion programme that will double its refining capacity from about 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029.

A refinery built for global markets

Located in the Lekki area of Lagos, the $20 billion refinery has rapidly become a major player in Nigeria’s fuel market since beginning operations in 2024.

Its growing export business has also positioned the facility to benefit from international fuel shortages, with refined products being shipped to markets across Africa and beyond.

The planned expansion is expected to add further refining and petrochemical capabilities while strengthening Dangote’s position in the international energy market.

Dollar-linked attraction for investors

One of the most closely watched features of the offering is its potential appeal to investors seeking exposure to foreign-currency earnings.

Dangote has positioned the refinery as an export-oriented business, with management highlighting dollar-linked revenues and the potential for investors to benefit from the company’s international earnings.

The offering is being promoted as a broad-based “people’s IPO”, with Dangote executives targeting millions of retail shareholders across Africa.

For Nigerian investors, the sale could mark an important moment for the country’s capital market by putting direct ownership of a globally significant energy asset within reach of ordinary households.

A major test for Nigeria’s market

Beyond the headline ₦2.15 trillion fundraising target, the Dangote IPO will be a major test of investor appetite for large-scale Nigerian equities.

The offering values the refinery at roughly $47 billion, according to Reuters’ calculations based on the company’s registered shares. Some analysts have already questioned whether that valuation is high compared with international refining companies.

But Dangote’s pitch is straightforward: investors are being offered a stake in a refinery that has moved from a massive construction project to a profitable, export-oriented energy business  with an even larger expansion planned.

If fully subscribed, the transaction would not only inject billions of dollars into the refinery’s expansion programme; it would also create one of the biggest new pools of retail shareholders in African capital-market history.

The countdown to September 14 has now begun.