Investors participating in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals may receive dividends in US dollars, a move that could offer some protection against naira depreciation.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, disclosed this at the facts-behind-the-offer presentation and opening gong ceremony for the refinery’s IPO on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) in Lagos.
Dangote said the refinery’s dollar-linked business model would allow investors to preserve the value of their investments despite fluctuations in the naira exchange rate.
“You will be getting your dividend in dollars,” he said.
According to him, the refinery’s underlying business is substantially dollarised, giving investors exposure to earnings linked to foreign currency.
He added that even if the naira undergoes further devaluation, investors would continue to benefit from the dollar-linked nature of the business.
Dangote also revealed that the Group was considering listing the refinery on an international capital market, potentially in the United States within the next three to four years.
He said a US listing would broaden ownership of the refinery and give the company access to a larger pool of international investors.
The proposed international listing comes as the refinery transitions from a privately held industrial asset to a company with broader public ownership through the Nigerian capital market.
Dangote stressed that the IPO was not primarily intended to raise funds, noting that the Group had already secured sufficient financing for its existing investment plans.
Instead, he said the public offer was aimed at “democratising wealth creation” by giving ordinary Nigerians and investors globally an opportunity to own a stake in the refinery.
“The primary purpose of this offer is to democratise wealth creation,” Dangote said.
He explained that the refinery’s private placement had already met its funding requirements, making the public offer primarily an opportunity for investors to participate in the value and future growth of the business.
Dangote specifically mentioned teachers, civil servants and Nigerians with families abroad among those who could benefit from the ownership opportunity.
He said the refinery should not create wealth for only a small group of investors but should provide millions of people with an opportunity to participate in its growth.
Urging prospective investors to focus on the company’s future prospects, Dangote said: “You are buying the future.”
He described the refinery as an operating business with significant assets, revenues and growth opportunities.
“This is a company that has already moved beyond the stage of promises. We are now dealing with reality.
“You are not investing in a story. You are investing in an operating business with significant assets, revenues and growth opportunities,” he said.
Dangote said the refinery had recorded strong demand for its petroleum products, particularly aviation fuel.
He disclosed that the refinery had effectively sold out its jet fuel production for August and September, apart from volumes reserved for specific customers.
The development, he said, highlights the refinery’s growing importance beyond Nigeria as it supplies petroleum products to international markets.
Addressing concerns over the global transition away from fossil fuels, Dangote argued that crude oil would remain relevant to the global economy for decades because of its importance beyond fuel production.
He said crude oil was also a critical feedstock for petrochemicals and manufacturing, pointing to the widespread use of petroleum-derived plastics in automobiles and other manufactured products.
Chairman of NGX Group, Umaru Kwairanga, said the Dangote Refinery IPO would demonstrate the capacity of Nigeria’s capital market to support large-scale businesses.
Kwairanga disclosed that the offer was valued at more than $1.6 billion and could rise to $2 billion if the greenshoe option is fully exercised.
He described the transaction as Africa’s biggest IPO and said it represented a major opportunity to connect Nigerian and African savings with a globally competitive Nigerian enterprise.
According to him, the transaction would test the ability of the domestic capital market to mobilise funds on the scale required to finance major infrastructure and industrial projects.
“A transaction of this scale tests that proposition and demonstrates what our market can achieve when capital, enterprise, and ambition come together,” Kwairanga said.
He described Dangote’s return to the NGX as a “homecoming”, recalling his previous role as President of the Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and his contribution to the development of Nigeria’s capital market.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, described the IPO as a historic development for Nigeria and Africa.
He said the transaction demonstrated that African capital could be deployed to finance African businesses while creating opportunities for Africans to participate in wealth creation.
Sanwo-Olu urged market operators to ensure that the offer reached a broad spectrum of Nigerians, including traders, technology entrepreneurs and farmers.
“This is about market creation. This is about deepening the market. This is about opening opportunity for everybody, from the market woman that is in Balogun, to the young tech savvy that is in Yaba, to the farmer that is in Kano,” he said.
The governor said the transaction went beyond Dangote Refinery, describing it as an opportunity to deepen Nigeria’s capital market and expand public participation in the ownership of major Nigerian enterprises.
Chairperson of the Botswana Stock Exchange, Neo Mooki, also urged African investors to participate in the refinery’s ownership.
Mooki, who said she had visited the refinery alongside Botswana’s Vice President and her team, described the facility as evidence of what African ambition could achieve when backed by capital and execution.
“Africa is not poor. It is unmonetised,” she said.
She urged Dangote and Nigeria’s capital market to extend the ownership opportunity beyond Nigeria to investors across Africa.
According to Mooki, the refinery IPO offers Africans an opportunity to own a stake in one of the continent’s most significant industrial assets.
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