By Nigeria Magazine — Business Desk
Aliko Dangote is having a September to remember — and it’s reshaping the map of African industry in real time.
Africa’s Biggest-Ever IPO Opens Today
Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals opened subscriptions on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) today, September 14, 2026, offering 4.1 billion shares at ₦525 each. The offer targets roughly ₦2.15 trillion — about $1.6 billion — and values the refinery at close to $49 billion, making it the largest share sale in African history. Nigeria’s SEC has approved the offer, and subscription runs through October 13, with trading on the NGX expected to begin in November.
The offer comes off the back of a dramatic turnaround: the refinery swung from a $476 million loss in 2025 to a $1.82 billion profit in the first half of 2026 alone. IPO proceeds are earmarked to help fund an expansion from the plant’s current 650,000-barrel-a-day capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by around 2029 — a project that would make Lekki the world’s largest single-train refinery, overtaking India’s Jamnagar plant.
Next Stop: Lamu, Kenya
While Lagos investors line up for shares, Dangote is preparing to break ground on an entirely new refinery — this time on Kenya’s coast. The Lamu refinery, a 700,000-barrel-a-day facility now estimated to cost around $16 billion (down from an earlier $17 billion projection), is set for its official groundbreaking ceremony on September 30, 2026.
The Lamu project would be Dangote Group’s biggest refining investment outside Nigeria, designed to cut East Africa’s heavy reliance on imported fuel and serve Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Burundi and the DRC. Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda have been offered a combined 30% regional equity stake in the project, worth roughly $1.5 billion — with Kenya alone weighing a 10% share worth about $500 million. The arrangement would turn host governments into shareholders and long-term customers at once.
Two Projects, One Continental Ambition
Together, the Lagos IPO and the Lamu refinery represent close to $18 billion in near-term capital commitments — part of a much larger investment push Dangote Group has outlined across refining, cement and fertilizer as it works toward $100 billion in group revenue by 2030.
It’s a bold, high-stakes bet: prove out the model in Lagos, then export it across the continent. If Lamu breaks ground on schedule, Aliko Dangote will have gone from running Africa’s biggest refinery to architecting two of the continent’s largest industrial projects in the same month.
#NigeriaMagazine #NigeriaExcellence #DangoteIPO #DangoteRefinery #WealthBuilding #WealthCreation #LamuRefinery #DangoteGroup #AfricaRising #IndustrialAfrica #BillionDollarIPO #NGXListing #EastAfricaEnergy #AlikoDangote
