Dangote Targets 10m Shareholders as Refinery Eyes World’s Largest Status by 2028

Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has announced plans to transform the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals into the world’s largest refinery by 2028, as the company commenced the process of taking the multibillion-naira facility to the Nigerian capital market.

Dangote disclosed this on Monday at the preliminary signing ceremony for the proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the refinery, describing the offering as a landmark development for Nigeria, Africa and the company.

The 700,000-barrels-per-day refinery, located in Lekki, Lagos State, is currently Africa’s largest refinery and the world’s largest single-train refinery.

Dangote said the facility would attain the global number-one position following the planned expansion of its refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day.

“As we gather today to witness the preliminary activities that will set in motion the initial public offering of the 700,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery and petrochemicals, the largest refinery in Africa, world’s largest single train, and soon to be the largest refinery by 2028 in the world history,” he said.

The expansion, according to the company, has already gone through the sponsorship, engineering and procurement stages, with construction now the major outstanding phase.

Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery, David Bird, said the expansion was expected to be completed by 2028, transforming the facility into the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complex globally.

“This is now just a construction exercise that we believe we can deliver by 2028 to make the Dangote refinery the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complex on the planet,” Bird said.

IPO targets 10 million shareholders

The proposed IPO is offering shares at N525 per share, with a minimum subscription of 10 shares, as the company seeks to raise more than **N2 trillion** to support its expansion programme.

Dangote, however, said raising capital was not the primary reason for taking the refinery to the public market.

According to him, the refinery is already generating strong free cash flow and has previously accessed substantial funding through bonds and private placements.

Rather, he said, the IPO was designed principally to democratise ownership of the refinery by allowing millions of Nigerians and other Africans to acquire stakes in one of the continent’s biggest industrial assets.

“We want to get as many Africans as possible. We are targeting 10 million shareholders from all over Africa and maybe other parts of the world,” Dangote said.

He described the offering as an “IPO for the people”, stressing that there would be no segregation in the ownership of the shares.

“There is no segregation on who can own the shares. We want every human being living on the continent to be part of this action,” he said.

Dangote urged prospective investors to subscribe according to their financial capacity, noting that those who could afford only the minimum 10 shares should participate at that level, while those with greater financial capacity could acquire substantially more.

He said the ownership structure was intended to cut across different social and professional groups, including drivers, cooks, managers, business owners and other workers.

According to him, broad-based ownership could provide ordinary Nigerians and Africans with an opportunity to build long-term wealth and create financial security for their families.

Dangote expressed optimism that the investment could produce a new generation of millionaires across Africa, drawing comparisons with early investors who accumulated significant wealth from companies such as Amazon as their businesses expanded over time.

‘Nothing is impossible’

Reflecting on the origins of the refinery project, Dangote said its development began more than a decade ago and was sustained by the confidence of the group’s bankers and other financial partners.

He recalled that some of the lenders demonstrated confidence in the project even before visiting the site or seeing the refinery’s licence.

“Today also shows that nothing is impossible for us to achieve once we are focused and determined,” he said.

Dangote said the group’s Vision 2030 agenda was centred on accelerating Africa’s industrialisation, stressing that energy security remained fundamental to achieving sustainable economic development.

“We have learned the hard way, and we cannot industrialise if we do not have the energy security,” he said.

He explained that the group had therefore prioritised investments aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s energy security while expanding its industrialisation drive across other African countries.

According to him, Dangote Group has announced expansion plans and investments in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia, among others.

He said the group’s activities were also encouraging other African entrepreneurs to participate in large-scale industrial projects capable of reducing the continent’s dependence on imports.

Refinery expands global footprint

Bird said the Dangote Refinery was operating as a merchant refinery, supplying petroleum products to Nigeria, West Africa and an expanding number of international markets.

He said the refinery had also established a strong position in the global aviation fuel market and had become the largest supplier of jet fuel to Europe.

Bird said the facility had performed strongly over the past six months, helping to cushion the impact of supply disruptions associated with geopolitical conflicts, including the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

According to him, the refinery’s ability to process different grades of crude gives it flexibility to serve multiple international markets.

He described the 700,000-barrels-per-day facility as Africa’s largest refinery and one of the five or six largest refineries globally.

The planned expansion to 1.4 million barrels per day, he said, would further strengthen its global position while deepening its integration with the company’s petrochemical and petroleum-products businesses.

Dangote: Business projections not based on war profits

Dangote also said the refinery’s valuation and IPO pricing were based on normal business conditions rather than exceptional profits arising from geopolitical crises or temporary disruptions in the international energy market.

He stressed that the group’s long-term business strategy was not dependent on the Middle East conflict, the Russia-Ukraine war or unusually high energy prices.

“We don’t base our business on crisis. We base our businesses on a normal trend. Whatever we have over and above that is icing on the cake,” he said.

Dangote warned businesses and investors against building long-term strategies around temporary geopolitical disruptions, noting that conflicts would eventually end and markets would eventually return to normal conditions.

He described the refinery as a multigenerational investment designed to operate for decades.

Pan-African energy platform

Beyond expanding refining capacity, Dangote said the company was pursuing plans to develop the refinery into a broader pan-African energy platform capable of supporting energy security, industrialisation and economic growth across the continent.

The group is also seeking to expand its petroleum-products distribution infrastructure across West Africa, including plans involving tank farms and pipeline infrastructure in Namibia to facilitate the movement of refined products to underserved inland markets.

Dangote said the refinery, together with the group’s fertiliser and other industrial businesses, would play a major role in supporting Africa’s industrial transformation.

He argued that the project had demonstrated that African businesses could conceive, finance and execute large-scale industrial projects capable of competing in international markets.

The billionaire industrialist commended the refinery’s bankers, financial advisers, regulators, the Nigerian Exchange Group and other stakeholders for their roles in bringing the proposed IPO to the market.

He described the offering as the biggest IPO in Africa’s history and urged Nigerians and other Africans to take advantage of the opportunity to become shareholders in the refinery.

The IPO marks a significant new phase in the development of the Dangote Refinery, combining an ambitious expansion programme with a broad-based ownership strategy aimed at placing stakes in one of Africa’s largest industrial projects in the hands of millions of investors.