Aliko Dangote is preparing to take his mega-refinery public in what would be Africa’s largest initial public offering ever. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE is targeting a valuation between $39.1 billion and $50 billion, with plans to sell roughly 10% of its equity on the Nigerian Exchange.

Pre-IPO demand has already exceeded $2 billion. That includes a $1 billion private placement tranche that closed in June 2026 at a share price of $0.35.

The world’s largest single-train refinery goes public

The refinery, located in Lagos’s Lekki Free Trade Zone, achieved full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day back in February 2026. That makes it the largest single-train refinery on the planet. Building it cost over $20 billion.

The proceeds from the IPO are earmarked for a $40 billion five-year expansion plan with an ambitious goal: turning Nigeria from a country that imports most of its refined petroleum products into a net exporter.

Retail frenzy meets regulatory caution

Reports describe a retail frenzy in Nigeria, with students and first-time investors opening brokerage accounts specifically to participate.

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission halted all marketing activities on June 23, 2026. The reason was straightforward: no formal IPO application had actually been filed yet. The revised target listing date is now September 2026.

Plans call for the primary listing on the Nigerian Exchange, with potential secondary listings on other African exchanges.

What this means for investors

Energy markets are cyclical, and a refinery’s profitability depends heavily on the spread between crude oil input costs and refined product prices. Regulatory risk in Nigeria remains a factor, as government policies on fuel subsidies and export quotas could directly impact margins. And the $40 billion expansion plan is exactly the kind of capital-intensive bet that can go sideways if global energy demand shifts faster than expected.