Otedola Dumps Geregu Stake, Invests $100 Million In Dangote Refinery

Otedola Dumps Geregu Stake, Invests $100 Million In Dangote Refinery

LAGOS — Chairman of First HoldCo, Femi Otedola, has announced plans to invest $100 million in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, revealing that he sold his stake in Geregu Power Plc specifically to fund the acquisition ahead of the refinery’s planned Initial Public Offering (IPO) scheduled for September 2026.

Otedola made the disclosure on Wednesday after leading top executives of First HoldCo on a tour of the Dangote refinery and fertiliser complex located within the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos. The delegation also visited major project sites, including the refinery’s jetty facility built to receive large vessels.

“On a personal note, I’ve appealed to him; I’ve been here with him 25 times. So, my compensation is that he’s going to allocate to me shares worth $100 million in the private placement,” Otedola said.

“That’s one of the reasons why I sold my stake in Geregu Plant — to invest my proceeds in the IPO of Dangote Refinery.”

Otedola’s planned investment comes amid massive investor interest in the refinery ahead of its public listing.

President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, disclosed that the company is targeting a private placement of approximately $2 billion and has already received requests from investors exceeding that figure.

“Right now, when we say we are going to do private placement, already we have people who have actually requested to buy, and we have requests of almost $2 billion,” Dangote told journalists.

“We are not selling after that, but we’ll see what we can allocate to them.”

According to Dangote, the private placement is part of the refinery’s broader IPO programme expected later this year.

Dangote confirmed that the refinery is expected to go public by September 2026.

“We are trying to make sure that by September, we’ll be out there in the market to sell the IPO,” he said.

READ ALSO:

• ‘Bad Loser’: APC Chieftain Knocks Desmond Elliot Over Surulere Primary Withdrawal
• Rivers 2027: Fubara Withdraws From APC Guber Race
• How Ojukwu ‘deliberately frustrated’ Nigeria’s last peace chance before Civil War — Gowon

He explained that the IPO is primarily designed to encourage retail participation and allow ordinary Nigerians to own shares in one of Africa’s biggest industrial projects.

“The IPO is mainly retail because our target really is to get the larger part of society to buy. We want ordinary people to benefit from the upside,” Dangote stated.

The upcoming listing is expected to become the largest IPO in African history.

Bloomberg reported on May 12 that the Dangote Group is targeting a valuation of up to $50 billion for the refinery business ahead of the IPO.

In 2025, Dangote hinted that the company could sell up to a 10 percent stake in the refinery, which Bloomberg estimated could raise about $5 billion.

For comparison, the MTN Nigeria listing in 2019 — which raised approximately $876 million — remains the largest IPO previously recorded on the Nigerian Exchange.

The Dangote Refinery IPO is projected to be five to six times larger.

Dangote also disclosed plans for a cross-border listing to attract both domestic and international investors.

The initiative is aimed at enabling Africans across the continent to participate in financing Africa’s industrialisation.

The move has already attracted interest from major African institutional investors, including representatives from South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation and the Government Employees Pension Fund — Africa’s largest pension fund — who recently toured the refinery complex.

According to FirstCap’s Chief Executive Officer, the Dangote Group has appointed several advisory firms to oversee the IPO process, including Stanbic IBTC Capital Ltd., Vetiva Advisory Services Ltd., and FirstCap Ltd.

The IPO prospectus was reportedly submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April 2026 for regulatory review and approval.

Located in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery currently has a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, making it Africa’s largest single-train refinery.

The facility commenced large-scale production of diesel, aviation fuel, and petrol in 2024 after years of construction and investments estimated at about $20 billion.

Dangote noted that the refinery would account for approximately 10 percent of the refining capacity of the entire United States.

“It is going to be the largest refinery ever on earth. It is not a small business,” he said.

Beyond the investment announcement, Otedola praised Dangote for what he described as his transformational impact on Nigeria and Africa’s economy.

“I have no doubt in my mind. I’ve seen what he has done in Africa. I’ve been to six countries to commission his cement plants. Very remarkable,” Otedola said.

He described Dangote as “a colossus, a genius, probably one of the greatest men that has come out of Africa, for delivering us out of economic slavery in Nigeria and by extension Africa.”

Otedola also said the visit formed part of First HoldCo’s leadership retreat as the bank pursues its ambition of becoming one of the largest financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa within the next five years.

One of the most notable aspects of the planned IPO is the proposed dividend structure.

Under the proposal, investors would purchase shares in Nigerian naira, while dividends would be paid in United States dollars.

The arrangement is expected to be backed by the refinery’s projected $6.4 billion annual petrochemical export revenue, which would provide the foreign exchange needed to support dollar-denominated dividend payments.

However, the structure still requires final approval from the SEC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The IPO has also been structured to attract Nigerian pension funds.

As of the end of 2025, Nigeria’s pension assets under management stood at approximately N22 trillion.

Analysts believe even a modest allocation from pension fund managers could significantly support what is projected to become the largest public offering in Nigeria’s history.

While the official IPO date is yet to be formally announced, Dangote said the company would continue working with advisers to finalise valuation details, complete the private placement process, and conclude all regulatory filings ahead of the September 2026 target.

The private placement — which includes Otedola’s $100 million investment — will allocate shares to select institutional and high-net-worth investors before the public offer opens to retail investors.

Dangote added that not all interested investors may receive allocations due to the overwhelming demand already approaching $2 billion.

For Otedola, the investment signals a strategic shift from power generation into refining and petrochemicals, reflecting growing confidence among Nigerian investors in large-scale industrial projects seen as central to Africa’s economic transformation.

Otedola Dumps Geregu Stake, Invests $100 Million In Dangote Refinery