Nigeria’s securities regulator has cleared the oil refinery owned by Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote, for an initial public offering, paving the way for the continent’s largest-ever equity sale as Africa’s richest person seeks cash to finance an aggressive cross-border expansion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the registration of 120.13 billion ordinary shares, the company said Friday, pegging the implied value of the Lekki-based facility at roughly $47 billion. Dangote Group plans to float 4.1 billion shares at N525 ($0.4) each to raise about N2.15 trillion ($1.63 billion) if the deal is fully taken up.

Listing tests investor appetite

The listing will test whether regional equity markets and foreign investors can absorb a deal of this size. Built for $20 billion on the Atlantic coast outside Lagos, the 650,000-barrel-a-day plant has reshaped Nigeria’s fuel supply and entered global trade routes as Middle East tensions disrupted flows, shipping aviation fuel across Africa and into Western Europe.

Order books will open on Sept. 14, according to a person familiar with the details who spoke on condition of anonymity because the date has not been formally announced. The timing aligns with remarks Dangote delivered Thursday to corporate executives in Botswana. A spokesperson for the group declined to comment on the schedule.

IPO price faces investor scrutiny

The listing includes an overallotment option to sell roughly 15 percent more equity if demand runs ahead of supply. Bankers have already secured a $400 million underwriting commitment, and a signing ceremony with the Nigerian Exchange is scheduled for next week.

Money managers are questioning the proposed price. A private placement in July valued the complex at $40 billion, while standalone refiners elsewhere trade at steep discounts. Turkey’s Tupras, processing similar volumes across four plants, has a market cap of $12 billion. New York-listed HF Sinclair, with capacity near 678,000 barrels a day, is worth roughly $16 billion.

Refinery targets $12 billion EBITDA

Dangote is betting the refinery’s earnings power will justify the multiple. The refinery does not publish balance-sheet figures, but Dangote told delegates in Gaborone he expects the asset to generate over $12 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

“This is not a Nigerian listing. It’s an African listing, and we are going to pay everybody, including the Nigerian listing, in dollar terms,” Dangote said, pitching the sale directly to African pension managers and retail buyers across the region.

The capital will fund an ambitious second phase. Dangote aims to more than double output in Lagos to 1.4 million barrels daily while exploring plans for a coastal processing plant in Kenya, an effort to cut the continent’s reliance on European refined imports.

Dangote targets $80 billion annual revenue

The move follows a $2.5 billion private placement completed earlier this year to retire existing obligations and strengthen working capital. State-owned NNPC retains a 7 percent interest in the project, which began initial runs in 2024 before hitting nameplate capacity earlier this year.

The offering fits into a wider corporate push to scale the billionaire’s broader business footprint. Fatima Dangote, group executive director, said the conglomerate expects combined annual revenue across its oil, cement, and fertilizer operations to climb from $20 billion to $80 billion within three years, aiming for a total group valuation of $100 billion by 2030.