Aliko Dangote signed the offering documents for his refinery’s initial public offering at the Eko Hotel in Lagos on Monday, alongside the advisers and issuing houses working on what will be the largest share sale in African history.
The offer opens on Sept. 14 and closes on Oct. 13, according to a presentation shown at the ceremony. It comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares of $0.000013 nominal value each, priced at 525 naira, and could raise about 2.15 trillion naira, roughly $1.63 billion, if fully subscribed.
The minimum subscription is ten shares, which costs 5,250 naira, about $3.97 at 1,321.68 naira to the dollar.
Dangote made the small entry point the centre of his remarks. The company intends to raise a bit more than 2 trillion naira, he said, which he described as too small, at 525 naira a share with a minimum subscription of only ten shares to fund the refinery’s expansion.
He was explicit about who he wants buying. The offer is structured so that drivers, cooks, servants, managers and everybody else can own a stake, he said, and so that subscribers can build future savings through the investment. He called it the IPO for the people.
David Bird, the refinery’s chief executive, has used the same phrase, and the company has ruled out any foreign listing for at least three years.
What the price implies about the company is considerably larger than the raise. Across an enlarged share count of about 124.23 billion, 525 naira values the refinery at roughly 65.22 trillion naira, some $49.35 billion. The private placement completed in July, which was 3.7 times oversubscribed at $2.5 billion, implied a valuation nearer $41.7 billion.
The consequence for Dangote himself is substantial. He holds 92.3% of the refinery, and at the offer price that stake is worth about $44.04 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index put his total fortune at $35.3 billion on Aug. 30, carrying the refinery at roughly its $20 billion construction cost. Marking it at 525 naira would add about $25.58 billion, taking him toward $60.9 billion.
His holding dilutes to around 89.25% after the offer.
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission approved the terms last week, in a letter to Vetiva Advisory Services, the lead issuing house, signed by Abdulkadir Abbas, director of the commission’s securities and investment services department. That approval cleared the company to hold its completion board meeting and Monday’s signing.
The asset behind it took nearly a decade to build. The refinery sits in the Lekki Free Zone, cost about $20 billion, was inaugurated in 2023 and began operations the following year. It is the largest single-train refinery in Africa, with nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels a day and tested throughput of 700,000.
Proceeds go toward doubling that to 1.4 million barrels a day, which would make it the largest refinery in the world.
The timing sits alongside a separate change in Nigeria’s market status. FTSE Russell reclassifies the country from unclassified to frontier market on Sept. 21, a week after the offer opens, which obliges index-tracking funds to buy ten Nigerian stocks including Dangote Cement.
The naira has strengthened about 5% against the dollar in recent weeks, which lifts the dollar value of everything in the offer.
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