Dangote Refinery’s highly anticipated listing on Nigeria’s main stock exchange is expected to be a “landmark moment,” the exchange’s CEO told Semafor, as the continent’s largest oil refiner plans a $5 billion pan-African IPO by the end of the year.

The blockbuster listing could help the bourse attract other large African companies by showing that Nigeria’s capital market can support “complex, globally significant transactions,” Temi Popoola said. The exchange’s main index recorded a 51% return in 2025 — among the largest in the world — and has kept up momentum this year as anticipation grows ahead of the listing. The Dangote Refinery wants to raise around $4 billion at a valuation of $40 billion, which would be the largest-ever IPO in Africa and would roughly equal the value of all new listings combined on Nigeria’s exchange in 2025.

Popoola said the listing will not only help amplify Nigeria’s investment profile internationally, but also build “a pipeline of high-quality issuers that can access capital efficiently.” The exchange’s priority is to “deepen participation, attract more issuers, enhance liquidity” and strengthen the capital market’s role in aiding economic transformation, he added. Nigeria’s bourse has pushed to increase capital market activity in recent years by mandating quicker transaction settlements, extending trading hours, and making a strategic investment in the newly formed Ethiopian Securities Exchange, Popoola said.