Dangote Refinery taps banks for historic NGX listing

Dangote Group has picked three investment banks to steer the listing of its petroleum refinery on the Nigerian Exchange, moving a deal that could rewrite the record books for African capital markets from intention into live preparation.

Stanbic IBTC Capital, Vetiva Capital Management and First Capital have been appointed as the leading issuing houses and financial advisers for the offering, according to people familiar with the matter. The three firms bring distinct skills to a transaction of unusual complexity.

Stanbic IBTC, operating under the Standard Bank umbrella, will manage the international book-building process and lead outreach to foreign portfolio investors. Vetiva, which has worked on previous Dangote-related listings, brings regulatory experience and retail distribution reach across the local market. First Capital is expected to anchor placements among Nigerian pension funds and institutional managers.

Ambrose Omordion, chief operating officer of Investdata Consulting, said the selected firms had a strong track record in major transactions on the Nigerian Exchange and had the capability to execute a listing of this scale.

The Dangote Group plans to float between five and 10 percent of the refinery, which cost $20 billion to build. Analysts put the expected debut valuation at between $40 billion and $50 billion. At that range, the listing alone could push the NGX’s total market capitalisation beyond 200 trillion naira, a threshold the exchange has never crossed.

One feature of the proposed offering is unusual even by global standards. Investors would be able to subscribe for shares in naira but elect to receive their dividends in U.S. dollars, drawing on the refinery’s projected $6.4 billion in annual export revenue. The structure is designed to take some of the currency sting out of the deal for foreign investors who would otherwise be exposed to naira volatility. It requires specific approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the NGX, and both regulators are in active discussions with the Dangote team on the mechanics.

The timeline is now becoming clearer. Aliko Dangote first signalled the listing was coming on Feb. 21, during a visit to the facility by NNPC Group Chief Executive Bayo Ojulari, saying shares would be available to investors within four to five months. The transaction is understood to be tracking toward a prospectus submission to the SEC in April, a national retail roadshow and the launch of an electronic IPO subscription platform in May, and a formal main board listing between June and July 2026.

The refinery is Africa’s largest crude oil processing facility and has been expanding its capacity toward 1.4 million barrels per day. It has operated for just over a year and carries $3.65 billion in debt, which the group has said it intends to repay through operations and asset transactions.

Separately, Dangote Cement sealed a framework agreement in Lagos over the weekend with Sinoma International Engineering of China, covering 12 new construction projects and expansions of existing facilities across Africa at a combined cost of more than $1 billion. The deal is tied to the cement company’s goal of reaching 80 million tonnes of annual production capacity by 2030, itself part of Dangote Group’s broader target of $100 billion in annual revenue by the same year.

New plants and brownfield expansions under the agreement are planned for northern Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Cameroon. Within Nigeria, Sinoma will handle projects at Itori, Apapa, Lekki, Port Harcourt and Onne.

Group Managing Director Arvind Pathak said the agreement was about closing supply gaps and backing the continent’s infrastructure ambitions, with a stated goal of making Africa self-sufficient in cement production. Board Chairman Emmanuel Ikazoboh said the completed projects would strengthen the company’s position across African markets.

The cement expansion is backed by an upgraded gas supply arrangement with NNPC subsidiaries, Nigerian Gas Marketing Limited and NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company, which will secure fuel for increased Nigerian production and support the use of compressed natural gas as a transport fuel.

Nigeria’s stock market has posted strong gains over the past year, riding a period of naira stabilisation and rising offshore interest in frontier markets. A successful Dangote Refinery listing would be the most significant test yet of how deep that appetite actual