Dangote refinery extends its $1.6 billion IPO to Oct. 27 as nine-month profit reaches $4.73 billion

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has pushed the close of its N2.15 trillion (about $1.6 billion) share sale to Oct. 27, two weeks later than planned, saying it wants more investors across Africa to take part. A day after announcing the delay, the Nigerian refiner reported unaudited profit of $4.73 billion for the first nine months of 2026, reversing a loss a year earlier.

The new timetable

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is selling 4.1 billion new shares at 525 naira (N525) apiece, an offer worth about N2.15 trillion, or roughly $1.6 billion. The offer opened on Sept. 14 and was due to close on Oct. 13. In a notice dated Oct. 12, the company said Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission had approved moving the close to Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Under the revised timetable, returns are to be collated by Nov. 3 and the allotment plan submitted to the regulator on Nov. 10. The company expects the commission to sign off on the allotment on Nov. 17. Successful applicants' accounts are due to be credited, and trading to begin, 15 business days after that, which would put the first day of trading around Dec. 8. The company says all of these dates are indicative and could move.

The minimum application is 10 shares, or N5,250 before charges.

Why the company says it needed more time

The notice said the extra two weeks would support efforts to reach investors elsewhere in Africa, including more distribution channels and depositary programs that let buyers in other countries hold the shares, and would give applicants time to finish account-opening and identity checks. "The additional time will help us extend that opportunity to more investors across Africa," Chief Executive David Bird said.

Aliko Dangote, the refinery's founder and president of Dangote Industries, said the extension was not about raising more money. He told reporters on Oct. 12 that subscriptions already amounted to "more than three or four times" the amount the company set out to raise. Neither the company, the issuing houses nor the commission has published a subscription figure, so that claim cannot yet be checked. Some Nigerian market commentators have read the extension as a sign of softer demand; the notice gives no numbers either way.

The numbers behind the offer

On Oct. 13, a day after the extension, the refinery released unaudited results for the nine months to Sept. 30. Net profit was $4.73 billion, against a loss of $117.2 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $22.48 billion from $9.19 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climbed to $5.52 billion from $627.6 million. Bird attributed the improvement to higher throughput, more reliable operations and stronger refining margins.

The refinery ended September with $6.69 billion of cash and net cash of $650.8 million, compared with net debt of $1.73 billion a year earlier. Operating cash flow for the nine months was $3.68 billion.

Set against first-half net profit of $1.82 billion on revenue of $13.91 billion, the results imply that the third quarter alone produced about $2.9 billion of profit on about $8.57 billion of revenue. Those quarterly figures are derived by subtraction; the company did not report them separately. Subtracting nine-month operating cash flow of $3.68 billion from net profit of $4.73 billion also shows profit running about $1.05 billion ahead of the cash the business generated from operations; that gap is likewise derived, and the company did not report it.

Where the money goes

Because the shares are new, the proceeds go to the refinery rather than to existing shareholders. The 4.1 billion shares amount to about 3.3% of the enlarged company, and the offer can be increased by up to 30% with regulatory approval, which would lift gross proceeds to about $2.1 billion.

Dangote has said the 700,000-barrel-a-day refinery in the Lekki Free Trade Zone near Lagos will reach 1.4 million barrels a day by early 2029. The company says the money will help pay for that expansion and for fuel storage and distribution.

What buyers are weighing

At N525 a share, published estimates put the company's value at roughly $47 billion to $50 billion, against nine-month profit that has not yet been audited. If the offer is oversubscribed, applications will be scaled back, and the company has cautioned that the offer price is no guarantee of where the shares will trade once they list.