After $1.6 billion refinery IPO draws $4.77 billion in orders, Aliko Dangote turns to African stock exchanges to widen investor access

The discussions could extend investor access beyond the refinery’s primary listing and help overcome the regulatory barriers that limited direct participation across several African markets.

The public offer involved 4.1 billion ordinary shares priced at ₦525 each, giving the base offer a value of approximately ₦2.15 trillion, or $1.6 billion.

Investor orders reached around ₦6.4 trillion, equivalent to $4.77 billion, according to people familiar with the offering. That was roughly three times the amount the refinery sought to raise.

Reuters reported⁠ on 4 November that Dangote Group has held discussions with African exchanges since April about broadening access to the shares. The talks were initiated at Dangote’s invitation, according to Edoh Kossi Amenounve, chief executive of the West African regional exchange, BRVM.

The BRVM serves eight West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Amenounve said the participating exchanges had struggled to agree on a single process because every market operates under its own listing and securities regulations.

“It was not easy to have a kind of consensus on how the IPO can be conducted in all these different markets,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Africa Financial Summit in Luanda.

One option being considered is the use of Global Depositary Receipts, or GDRs.

A depositary receipt is a financial instrument that represents shares in a company but can be traded on an exchange outside the company’s primary listing market.

Under such an arrangement, investors in another African country could buy a locally traded instrument representing Dangote Refinery shares without the company having to float a separate primary share issuance.

Amenounve said similar arrangements had been used in Kenya and Botswana.

The Nigerian Exchange has also been working with exchanges in Egypt, Kenya, Botswana and Ethiopia to create access through depositary receipts and other cross-border mechanisms.

Some arrangements have been completed, while others are awaiting regulatory clearance.

The necessary trading infrastructure already exists through the African Exchanges Linkage Project, which connects participating stock markets. The larger problem is the absence of a common regulatory framework.

Companies seeking to raise money in multiple African markets generally require separate approval from the securities regulator in each country.

Amenounve called for African regulators to recognise one another’s approvals, which could reduce duplication and make it easier for companies to conduct cross-border offerings.

“If you want to ease this kind of process, maybe it is time to think about harmonisation and mutual recognition,” he said.

The IPO closed officially on 27 October, according to Dangote Refinery’s offer update⁠. Applications are now being checked before regulators approve the final basis of allotment.

The reported ₦6.4 trillion, or $4.77 billion, represents investor demand—not the amount the refinery has raised.

Because applications exceeded the number of shares available, some investors may receive fewer shares than they requested. Excess or rejected application funds must also be returned after the allotment process.

Dangote’s base offer comprised 4.1 billion shares, with the refinery allowed to issue up to 30% more shares through an overallotment option, subject to regulatory approval.

The final amount raised will therefore depend on the number of shares allotted and whether the overallotment option is exercised.

Under the indicative timetable, the basis of allotment is expected to be submitted to regulators on 10 November, with regulatory clearance targeted for 17 November.

The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nigerian Exchange later in November, although the dates remain subject to regulatory and operational changes.

The refinery promoted the offering as an opportunity for investors across Africa to own part of one of the continent’s largest industrial assets.

However, the prospectus was not registered as a public offer outside its home market.

Investors elsewhere had to comply with their own countries’ securities regulations or use the limited number of approved investment platforms and cross-border arrangements available to them.

Dangote acknowledged the regulatory problem in October, describing it as a “teething problem.”

“We want to make sure that the African capital markets collaborate with each other,” he told Reuters at the time.

The company later extended the offer period to support initiatives intended to expand investor access across Africa, including depositary-receipt programmes.

Dangote Refinery’s official offer website said applications were received from 120 countries and that investors from all 54 African countries participated. The company has not published an independently verified geographical breakdown showing how many shares were requested or allotted in each country.

The offering is intended to finance the expansion of Dangote’s refinery, which currently has processing capacity of approximately 700,000 barrels per day.

Dangote plans to double that capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, a scale that would strengthen the refinery’s position in African and international petroleum markets.

The facility was built for approximately $20 billion and has already changed regional fuel flows by supplying petrol, diesel and aviation fuel to African and international customers.

The IPO is also expected to broaden the refinery’s ownership beyond Dangote Group and institutional investors.

A successful cross-border trading arrangement would allow more investors to gain exposure to the business through their domestic exchanges. It could also provide a model for other large African companies seeking to raise capital across the continent.