Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
In a striking display of confidence between two of Nigeria’s most formidable business titans, Femi Otedola, Chairman of First HoldCo, has publicly committed to invest $100 million in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery through its upcoming private placement, a move that signals escalating investor appetite for what is set to become one of the largest industrial listings in African history. Otedola announced his intention on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after leading a delegation of top executives from First HoldCo and First Bank on a tour of the refinery complex in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos, where the billionaire revealed that he sold his entire stake in Geregu Power Plc specifically to position himself for the investment.
“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 told journalists during the visit. “That’s one of the reasons why I sold my stake in Geregu plant to come and invest my proceeds in the IPO of Dangote Refinery.” The announcement came as the refinery’s President, Aliko Dangote, disclosed that total investor requests for participation in the planned share sale had already surged past $2 billion, even before the official opening of the offer period.
Otedola’s planned investment forms part of the refinery’s targeted $2 billion private placement, which is the latest phase leading up to a proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) expected later this year. Dangote has previously indicated that the refinery could sell up to a 10 percent stake in the listing, which Bloomberg estimates could be valued at about $5 billion, with the entire refinery business reportedly targeting a valuation of up to $50 billion. The impending IPO is being structured as a cross-border listing aimed at attracting both domestic and international investors while broadening African participation in major industrial assets.
Speaking during the same event, Aliko Dangote confirmed that preparations for taking the refinery to the capital market were ongoing, with a potential listing window in September of this year. He emphasized that the IPO is designed with retail investors as a primary target. “You had the chairman of the bank, in his personal capacity, pledge to buy $100 million worth of shares in the IPO,” Dangote noted, adding that the company’s valuation is being deliberately set at a level that leaves room for upside for ordinary shareholders. “We want ordinary Nigerians to benefit from the upside. It is going to be the largest refinery ever on the earth. It is not a small business,” he stated.
Otedola’s decision to liquidate his holdings in Geregu Power, a company he took public in October 2022, represents a significant financial repositioning. Reports indicate that Otedola sold his Geregu stake in a transaction valued at $750 million in December 2025, freeing up capital specifically for the refinery investment. He described the shift as a strategic move to align himself with what he called a “transformative industrial platform” capable of reshaping Africa’s economic trajectory. “He is a genius and one of the greatest men to emerge from Africa. What he has achieved is helping to liberate the continent from economic dependency and import reliance,” Otedola said of Dangote during the tour.
The high-profile visit to the refinery included the boards and management teams of First HoldCo and FirstBank, as well as international delegates from the United Kingdom and several African countries who were on hand to observe the scale of the 650,000 barrels-per-day facility, which currently supplies over 62 percent of Nigeria’s domestic petrol demand and has begun exporting jet fuel to European airports. The delegation was also taken to key project infrastructure such as the refinery’s jetty, built to accommodate large cargo vessels. Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group, Olusegun Alebiosu, described the refinery as a symbol of vision capable of inspiring similar large-scale investments across the continent.
Beyond the immediate investment, the visit also provided a platform for both billionaires to outline their broader ambitions. Otedola revealed that First HoldCo has set a target to become one of the largest banking institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa within the next five years, a goal he said the leadership team hoped to achieve by studying Dangote’s industrial expansion strategy. For his part, Dangote disclosed that the Group is considering the development of a 700,000 barrels-per-day refinery in East Africa, alongside polypropylene and base oil production facilities, with construction potentially commencing within the next three to four years.
The deepening ties between the two tycoons have been years in the making. Otedola noted that he had accompanied Dangote on several trips across Africa to commission cement plants and had witnessed firsthand the execution of what he described as “vision at scale.” Beyond the personal investment, Dangote hinted that First HoldCo itself might also participate in the private placement through its investment arm, though no formal commitment has been announced. Meanwhile, the broader financial landscape is also shifting in the refinery’s favor. The National Pension Commission (PenCom) recently approved the investment of Nigeria’s N29.5 trillion pension assets in the refinery, a regulatory adjustment that significantly expands the pool of potential domestic capital available for the listing.
Otedola’s $100 million pledge is more than a financial transaction; it is a public endorsement from one of Africa’s most prominent financiers of a project that has, for years, symbolized the promise and peril of homegrown industrialization. As Dangote moves closer to listing what is already the world’s largest single-train refinery, the signal sent by Otedola—selling a profitable power plant to buy into the dream—may prove to be the most powerful marketing tool the IPO could have. As of now, no formal date for the public listing has been announced, but with investor demand already outstripping the available private placement allocation by a wide margin, the countdown to September has begun.
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