AFC Leads $2.5bn Dangote Refinery Equity Raise, Deal Oversubscribed

The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has led a consortium of investors in a $2.5 billion private placement by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE (DPRP), marking a major fresh capital injection into Nigeria’s biggest integrated refining and petrochemical project.

The transaction, which represents DPRP’s first equity capital raise involving new investors outside its legacy ownership structure, was oversubscribed 3.7 times, underscoring strong appetite from international and African institutional investors, sovereign-related investment vehicles, development finance institutions, and strategic partners.

The fresh capital comes as the Dangote Group moves to accelerate its Vision 2030 plan to more than double the refinery’s nameplate capacity from its current 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2028.

Commenting on the transaction, AFC president and chief executive officer, Samaila Zubairu, said the corporation’s participation reflected its continued confidence in the refinery as one of Africa’s most significant industrial assets.

“AFC’s participation in this transaction reflects our continued conviction in DPRP as one of the most consequential industrial assets on the continent. Since the refinery’s earliest stages, AFC has provided catalytic capital to help move the project from concept to reality — from our role in the syndicated financing and our support for working capital during commissioning to this investment in its next phase of growth.”

Zubairu said the investment demonstrated AFC’s approach of providing capital across the different stages of an infrastructure project, from development and commissioning to stable operations.

“This is what long-term partnership looks like: capital that remains engaged as a project develops, becomes operational and matures into a stable, cash-generating industrial platform. DPRP’s success is a powerful demonstration of the scale of ambition, execution and value creation that is possible in Africa.”

Chairman of DPRP and President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, described the transaction as a strategic move to broaden the company’s shareholder base while providing additional funding for its expansion programme.

“This is a strategic step to deepen and further institutionalise the Enterprise’s shareholder base, while raising capital to complement our internal cash flows and external debt, as DPRP advances its expansion agenda.”

Dangote said the transaction also reinforced the group’s commitment to expanding domestic refining and petrochemical production. “This further demonstrates our profound commitment to developing domestic refining and petrochemical capacity — reducing Africa’s reliance on imported refined products and supporting the continent’s energy security.”

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of DPRP, David Bird, said the strong subscription demonstrated investors’ confidence in the refinery’s operations and management. “The exceptional demand we saw is a testament to our operational excellence, execution capacity, and investor confidence in DPRP’s leadership.”

The $2.5 billion equity raise comes at a critical stage in the development of the Dangote refinery, which has increasingly assumed a central role in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum industry.

With the planned expansion to 1.4 million barrels per day, the facility is expected to significantly boost Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity while strengthening the country’s position as a major supplier of refined petroleum products to African and international markets.

Located on a 2,500-hectare site in Lagos, the approximately $20 billion Dangote refinery and petrochemical complex was designed to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily into petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha and other refined products for the Nigerian, African and international markets.

The adjoining petrochemical plant converts refinery-derived propylene into polypropylene, a key raw material used across packaging, textiles, household goods, automotive components and medical products. The latest investment further deepens the longstanding partnership between AFC and the Dangote Group, which has extended across some of Africa’s largest industrial projects.

AFC had previously served as Coordinating Bank on a $3 billion syndicated loan for DPRP and recently received full repayment of its foundational $300 million senior term loan to Dangote Industries Limited, which supported the refinery’s development from the concept stage.