Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s refinery IPO sparks new listing talks at Nigeria’s stock exchange

Nigeria’s stock exchange is in private talks with several companies about listing their shares, its chief executive said, crediting the record initial public offering of Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s oil refinery with reviving interest in Lagos as a place to raise capital.

Temi Popoola, chief executive of Nigerian Exchange Group, said in an interview with Bloomberg published Friday that he is optimistic the talks will produce some good listings from next year. He said the prospective listings include energy, technology and state-owned companies, but did not name them.

Popoola said the Dangote offer had answered a question investors used to ask about whether large sums could be raised in Nigeria, pointing to the refinery’s market value of about $50 billion. He said the exchange is focused on orderly price discovery and on deepening liquidity once the shares trade, so that a wider pool of investors can buy and sell them.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is selling 4.1 billion shares at ₦525 each to raise about ₦2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion), Africa’s largest IPO. The offer opened on Sept. 14 and was due to close on Oct. 13, but the Securities and Exchange Commission approved an extension to Oct. 27.

Dangote has said orders are several times the target, although no subscription figures have been published. He has also said small investors applying for ₦50,000 or less will be given priority in the allotment.

The refinery’s recent results have given investors more to weigh. It reported a profit of about $4.7 billion for the first nine months of the year, after reaching full refining capacity in February. The plant in Lekki, Lagos, is Africa’s largest oil refinery, and Dangote has said he plans to expand its capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day.

NGX Group is also taking the offer beyond Nigeria. Chairman Umaru Kwairanga said this week the exchange would visit Egypt, Ethiopia and Botswana with the issuer to explain how investors there can take part, describing the sale as “Africa’s People IPO.” The push builds on work NGX began in April, when it brought together the heads of several African exchanges to discuss cross-border access to the refinery’s shares.

The size of the offer has also drawn attention from regulators. The SEC warned the public this week not to buy the shares through WayvePay, a digital banking platform. Wayve Microfinance Bank, which runs the platform, said it was engaging with the regulator and that no investor had subscribed through it.

Exchange officials hope a strong debut will persuade other large private and state-owned companies that Lagos can handle deals of this size. Dangote, Africa’s richest person, owns about 92% of the refinery.