A proposed regional structure could make the BSE the central Southern African trading venue for a Dangote refinery instrument, testing Botswana’s capital-market ambitions.
BONGANI MALUNGA
The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) could become the central listing and trading venue for Southern African investors seeking exposure to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO, giving Botswana a potentially significant role in one of Africa’s biggest capital-market transactions.
HOST MARKET
Under a proposed regional structure announced jointly by the Committee of SADC Stock Exchanges (CoSSE) and the BSE on 28 September 2026, a sponsored Depository Receipt (DR) linked to Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE would be listed on the BSE.
Rather than duplicating the instrument across several Southern African exchanges, the proposed model would concentrate DR trading liquidity on the Botswana bourse. Other CoSSE member exchanges would provide investors in their countries with domestic access, distribution and order-routing channels.
The arrangement would place Botswana at the centre of the proposed SADC trading architecture for the Dangote instrument, although the refinery’s primary share offer remains based in Nigeria.
“The BSE, as the proposed host market for the regional DR, would provide the central listing and trading venue,” CoSSE and the BSE said, with custody, settlement and market-intermediary arrangements supporting the structure.
REGIONAL LINK
The proposed arrangement forms part of CoSSE’s wider market-interconnectivity programme, which is aimed at making it easier for an investor in one SADC market to access securities available in another. Participating exchanges would continue mobilising investors locally while brokers, custodians, central securities depositories and banking partners handle onboarding, subscriptions and settlement.
The announcement comes as demand for Dangote refinery shares appears to be running ahead of expectations.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s offer opened on 14 September with 4.1 billion ordinary shares priced at N525 (P5.43) each and is scheduled to close on 13 October. The offer represents about 3.4 percent of the refinery and has been billed as Africa’s largest IPO.
Dangote Group has since opened discussions with Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission over potentially increasing the number of shares available as demand from retail and institutional investors surges.
BOTSWANA DEMAND
Significantly for Botswana, Dangote told Kenyan publication Business Daily that demand originating from Botswana and Kenya alone could absorb the amount currently being sought through the offer. He reinforced the scale of investor appetite while speaking to reporters during a recent visit to Nairobi.
“Demand is there, enormous demand. In fact, I didn’t know the depth of our capital markets until now, really, because we have never tested it,” Dangote said.
Hosting the regional instrument would provide a test case for Botswana becoming a gateway for cross-border African securities, concentrating regional liquidity in Gaborone while connecting investors across SADC markets.
However, the BSE and CoSSE have stressed that the regional DR programme is not yet finalised. Implementation remains subject to transaction agreements and regulatory and market approvals in Botswana, Nigeria and participating CoSSE jurisdictions.