The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is set to commence its initial public offering (IPO) within the next 10 to 12 days, President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has said.
Dangote disclosed this on Thursday during a meeting with investors and analysts in Botswana, Reuters reported.
The proposed share sale is expected to raise approximately $5bn for the $20bn refinery. If completed as projected, the offering could become one of the biggest IPOs in Africa.
Dangote said the planned listing was also linked to the company’s ambition to expand the refinery’s capacity significantly.
“Our dream is that we want to make sure we double the capacity of the refinery, which will take us to 1.4 million barrels per day. The IPO will open in the next 10 to 12 days,” he said.
Located in Lagos, the refinery currently has a designed capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. It reached that level in February and has subsequently recorded output of up to 700,000 barrels per day during testing.
The company has not disclosed the refinery’s profit margins, even as refining businesses globally have benefited from improved margins amid disruptions and uncertainty in the Middle East.
Beyond the planned refinery IPO, Dangote outlined other expansion plans for his business group during his engagement with investors in Botswana.
He said Dangote Cement would pursue a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, with the transaction expected to take place around October.
The proposed London listing is intended to give the cement business access to a wider pool of international investors and strengthen its position in global capital markets.
Dangote also confirmed plans to build a new refinery along Kenya’s coast in partnership with East African governments.
The proposed facility is expected to serve Kenya and neighbouring countries by supplying refined petroleum products and helping reduce the region’s dependence on imported fuel.
Construction of the Kenyan refinery could take as long as three years, according to Dangote.
The project would mark a major expansion of the group’s refining operations outside Nigeria as the conglomerate seeks to strengthen its footprint across the African market.
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