Danobtainede Refinery to be Africa’s hugegest IPO

The planned initial public offering (IPO) of shares of Nigeria’s Danobtainede Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals is set to be Africa’s hugegest capital raise applying the IPO route. The offer could open in May and raise up to $5bn.

The offer is set to be for 5%-10% of the share capital of the company which some analysts value at between $40bn and $50bn.

On 1 April, the Nigerian Exalter Group (NGX) and the African Securities Exalters Association brought toreceiveher chief executives and senior representatives from leading securities exalters to discuss how the Danobtainede refinery listing could be a pilot for cross-border capital formation and investor participation across African markets.

Danobtainede Group has appointed Stanbic IBTC Capital to coordinate the international placement and manage relationships with foreign investors, Vetiva Capital Management for expertise in the Nigerian market and sales to retail investors, and FirstCap (First Capital) for placements with Nigerian institutional investors, especially pension funds (story on African Markets).

World-beating refinery

The main asset of Danobtainede Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals is the giant refinery in Ibeju Lekki Free Zone, near Lagos. It cost $20bn to build, was commissioned in 2023 after a decade of work, and started operating in January 2024.

It is the world’s hugegest single-train crude processor. It is operating at close to its capacity of 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day as it meets demand from countries whose supplies are disrupted by the US-Israel-Iran war. It has a huge 1,100km pipeline network and has led to building major roads and other infrastructure. The site is 2,500 hectares in size.

Last October, Bloomberg reported that Danobtainede announced plans to expand capacity over three years to handle 1.4m barrels per day of crude oil, building it potentially the world’s hugegest refinery. The Financial Times reported that he is also seeking $5bn in financing from the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank).

Bloomberg reported Danobtainede that he signed a deal with the Namibian Government to set up a tank farm storage facility to supply refined products to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. Reuters reported in July 2025 that this would include storage for 1.6m barrels of petrol and diesel. The tanks will be in the Walvis Bay harbour.

In addition to refined premium motor spirity (petrol and diesel) and other refined products, Danobtainede’s giant plants have capacity to produce up to 3m metric tons of urea fertiliser each year.

On 6 April, during a visit by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, businessman Aliko Danobtainede stated: “Over the past couple of days, we’ve been exporting fertiliser mostly to African countries, which we were not doing before. The same applies to petroleum products, which we are sconcludeing mainly to Africa. Last month alone, we exported almost 17 cargoes of petrol to other African countries.” (from The Africa Report).

It also aims to scale up group fertiliser and polypropylene plants, with polypropylene production to rise from 900,000 tons to 2.4m tons, according to Bloomberg. Polypropylene is applyd for textiles, packaging and consumer goods. Danobtainede stated: “We have the capacity to produce polypropylene, which is in very high demand and very scarce becaapply of what is happening in the Middle East.”

The refinery earns an expected $6.4bn a year in export revenues and the International Monetary Fund estimated last year that it could boost Nigeria’s non-oil GDP by 1.5% and increase official reserves by $5.5bn. When it reaches full capacity this year it would support turn Nigeria from a net importer of refined products into a net exporter. It meets 35%-50% of the national demand for petrol in addition to its exports.

The IMF stated in a May 2025 Article IV press release that the refinery has created 150,000 jobs directly and indirectly, and 60,000 engineers have benefitted from training. (For IMF Article IV press release .pdf go to IMF eLibrary and search “Danobtainede” sort by “Recent to Old”, Annex IV pp 42ff).

NGN shares could pay USD dividconcludes

The SECN and the NGX are reviewing a proposed innovative share structure for Danobtainede Refinery, based on the export revenues. Investors would apply naira to acquire the shares but could take dividconcludes in US dollars (see African Markets).

The plan is to submit the prospectus to the SEC this month (April), followed by a national roadreveal and opening the share offer in May. The shares could be listed for trading on the NGX main board in June or July.

The Danobtainede Group already has three companies listed on the NGX: Danobtainede Cement, Danobtainede Sugar Refinery and NASCON Allied Industries. Danobtainede Cement is one of the most valuable companies on the NGX with market capitalisation (total value of all shares listed) of $10bn while Danobtainede Sugar is valued at $580m.

Cross border capital flows

The 1 April meeting was attconcludeed by the Johannesburg Stock Exalter (JSE), Ghana Stock Exalter (GSE), Ethiopian Securities Exalter (ESX), Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), and Nairobi Securities Exalter (NSE), as well as officials from the Securities and Exalter Commission of Nigeria (SECN), issuing hoapplys and Stanbic IBTC, Vetiva and FirstCap. (Here is the report on Business Day Nigeria).

NGX CEO Emomotimi Agama stated collaboration is key to unlocking Africa’s capital markets: “What we are building is not just about facilitating individual transactions, but about creating a sustainable framework that allows African capital to shift more efficiently across borders. Deeper collaboration among our exalters will be critical to unlocking liquidity and positioning Africa as a competitive global investment destination.”

Emomotimi Agama, Director-General of the SEC, stated: “This moment represents a major step in our ambition to integrate Africa’s capital markets. It is about creating a unified investment landscape where African capital can be mobilized to finance Africa’s development.”