Nigeria's stock exchange is in talks with several companies about listings and expects some as early as next year, as the record share sale by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE spurs interest in the nation's bourse as a capital-raising venue. Nigerian Exchange Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Temi Popoola said there is "every reason to be optimistic that we will at least see some good listings." He added that a $50 billion market-cap company is about to change the narrative on raising capital in Nigeria.
The refinery's initial public offering aims to raise as much as $2.1 billion, the most in an African IPO to date. The exchange has seen little IPO activity over the past decade as two recessions, repeated currency devaluations and foreign-exchange restrictions deterred investors. Economic reforms since 2023, including removing a costly fuel subsidy and liberalizing the foreign-exchange market, have helped stabilize the naira. Nigeria's benchmark stocks index has rallied 72% in dollar terms, the best performance among gauges tracked by Bloomberg.
Popoola acknowledged that investors may favor private placements, rights issues and debt financing over IPOs, and that there is strong competition from other bourses. The exchange is working on listings by energy, technology and state-owned companies. One target is OPay Digital Services Ltd., a fintech backed by SoftBank Group Corp. with more than 50 million monthly active users, which is considering a secondary listing in Nigeria after a US IPO. Nigerian National Petroleum Co. is also making progress on a listing.
The bourse has used the refinery IPO to strengthen its technology systems. Popoola said the focus is on orderly price discovery and deeper liquidity over time. "We're not saying that with this one transaction we have reached uhuru, but it does prove we are going in the right direction," he said. The exchange had more than 6 million retail investors in 2025, and the Dangote offer alone targets 10 million.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing