By: OrePulse

The initial public offering for Nigeria's Dangote refinery has already reached its $1.6 billion target using domestic and retail investor demand alone, with applications reported from investors in 119 countries, according to people familiar with the process.

International demand is expected to push the total raised well past the offering's $2.1 billion ceiling, which includes a 30% over-allotment option, the people said. The closing date for the offer was extended by two weeks to October 27 to accommodate continued investor interest [uncertain].

Aliko Dangote, the refinery's founder, has pitched the offering as an "IPO for the people," aiming to attract 10 million retail investors with a minimum subscription of 10 shares. The refinery has been valued at $47 billion as part of the offering, which is being described as the largest initial public offering in Africa's history.

Proceeds from the IPO are earmarked for a $14 billion expansion plan that would roughly double the refinery's crude processing capacity, from nearly 700,000 barrels per day currently to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029. The expansion is intended to increase Nigeria's domestic refining capacity and reduce the country's reliance on imported refined fuel products.

The Dangote refinery, located in Lagos state, has already reshaped Nigeria's fuel supply chain since starting operations, and a successful capacity expansion would extend that effect across the wider West African market that depends in part on Nigerian refined-product exports and imports.