Africa: Africa's Biggest IPO Nears As Dangote Refinery Files for Listing

What the report says

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has filed an initial public offering application with Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, a move that brings it closer to a planned listing on the Nigerian Exchange. According to the reporting carried by AllAfrica from Daba Finance, SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama said the company’s advisers are working with regulators and that the refinery is targeting September 2026, although no offer date or listing date has been approved.

The filing follows an earlier SEC warning issued on June 23 about campaigns seeking advance subscriptions from investors. At that time, the regulator said it had not received an IPO application and ordered operators to stop promoting the offer. Dangote Refinery said it had not approved those campaigns. The new filing means the formal review process can now begin.

The refinery recently raised $2.5 billion in a private placement in July, which the company said was oversubscribed and drew investors including Africa Finance Corporation and an Afreximbank-backed vehicle. The deal was described as Africa’s largest disclosed private equity placement and valued the refinery at about $40 billion. The company, which began operations in 2024 and supplies fuel in Nigeria and export markets, plans to expand capacity from 650,000 barrels a day to 1.4 million barrels by 2028.

If approved, the listing would be significant for the Nigerian market and could broaden access for local and institutional investors. More generally, it would also add transparency to a large industrial asset whose shares have not yet been made available to the public.