In what is projected to become the biggest stock market listing in Africa, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has formally approached Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to commence the regulatory process for its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
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Emomotimi Agama, the Director-General of SEC confirmed this in an interview reported by Businessday, adding that the regulator does not foresee any delays that could derail the planned share sale.
“If any issue arises, SEC will resolve it. That is why the SEC exists,” Agama told BusinessDay.
This follows months of preparatory work between Dangote Refinery, its advisers and the SEC. No date has been formally approved for the transaction, however, the company continues to target a September listing.
Previous report indicate that the Dangote Group is preparing to list the refinery on the Nigerian Exchange as part of commitments made by African’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, to broaden public ownership of the business.
Speaking at the refinery in July, Dangote said the company planned to launch the IPO in September 2026, describing the listing as an opportunity for Nigerians and institutional investors to participate in the refinery’s future growth.
The listing is expected to reshape Nigeria’s equity market, and the formally SEC filling comes days after the Refinery announced that it had secured $2.5bn from private investors to fund its expansion plans, as it widens its refining business into East Africa.
The private placement which was 3.7 times oversubscribed provided another indication of strong investor appetite ahead of the planned public offering.
Until the completion of the fundraising round, the Nigerian government-controlled oil company NNPCL was the refinery’s only outside shareholder, with a stake of about 7.2%.
In furtherance of the investor appetite, Africa’s largest financial institution, Standard Bank Group, affirmed its commitment to support the growth of Dangote Industries Limited, pledging backing for the planned listing of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery while expressing readiness to finance future expansion projects across the continent.
“As Dangote lists, there is an IPO coming up, and we are a leading player in that process,” Sim Tshabalala, Standard Bank Group Chief Executive, said during a recent strategic visit to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Dangote Fertiliser complex in Lagos.
Recently, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) had granted Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) regulatory forbearance to invest in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE.
Businessday reported that growing anticipation around Dangote Refinery IPO is reshaping investor behaviour across Nigeria’s financial markets, with many retail and institutional investors reportedly setting aside liquidity ahead of the expected offer.
The company’s founder, Aliko Dangote, said the funds will provide “capital to complement internal cash flows and external funding” as the company “advances its expansion agenda”.
Dangote plans to more than double the capacity of its Nigerian refinery, from 650,000 barrels a day to 1.4 million. That would make it the world’s largest refinery, overtaking India’s Jamnagar complex.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
