Africa's new credit rating agency begins its first full week as the continent's finance ministers and central bankers gather in Bangkok, where the IMF updates its growth forecasts. The continent's largest listing deals also reach their deadlines this week. The Dangote refinery's offer closes on Tuesday, Airtel Money begins full trading in London on Wednesday, and OPay has filed to list in New York.
1. AFRICA | AfCRA TAKES AFRICA’S CREDIT CASE TO BANGKOK
The Africa Credit Rating Agency, launched in Mauritius on 7 October, starts its first full week as the continent’s finance ministers meet the IMF and World Bank in Bangkok. It will rate African governments, cities, companies and institutions as an independent, private-sector agency. Governments are barred from owning shares in it, according to the African Union. The agency expects to issue its first sovereign and corporate ratings within three months, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The AU’s case rests on the cost of borrowing. Africa spent $163 billion servicing external debt in 2024, more than two and a half times the $61 billion it paid in 2010. Four in ten African countries have no rating from the three largest global agencies, so investors have no common benchmark for pricing their bonds.
2. NIGERIA | DANGOTE’S OFFER CLOSES TUESDAY
Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s N2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion) offer, the largest share sale in Nigeria’s market, closes on 13 October. Investors are buying about 3.4% of the refinery, at a price that values the whole company at roughly $47 billion, by Sable’s calculation. The shares are new, so the money goes to the refinery itself rather than to existing owners. A Kenyan tranche closes the same day.
The sale comes as the regulator warns of a shortage of companies ready to list. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s director-general, Emomotimi Agama, said on Friday that the main constraint on Nigeria’s capital market is the number of well-run companies available to invest in, not the number of investors. Exchange data shows where demand is coming from. Foreign investors accounted for 4.89% of trading in August, against 16.56% in March, and have sold more than they bought for eight straight months.
3. PAN-AFRICA | AIRTEL MONEY STARTS JUST BELOW ITS OFFER PRICE
Airtel Money, valued at $7 billion at its offer price, touched 200p ($2.64) when conditional trading opened in London on Friday. It then slipped to around 193p ($2.55), about 1.5% below the 196p offer price. Investor demand had exceeded the shares on offer several times over. Parent company Airtel Africa fell about 6% as telecoms shares sold off globally. In conditional trading, only investors who received shares in the offer can deal, ahead of formal admission.
Only about 11% of Airtel Money’s shares were sold, all by existing investors, so the company raised no new money and Airtel Africa keeps control. The International Finance Corporation took its full allocation of $90 million. Wednesday’s admission opens trading to all investors and gives the first full test of the price.
4. NIGERIA | OPAY FILES FOR NEW YORK
OPay filed on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker OPAY. Offer size and price have not yet been set.
The filing shows a business growing fast. First-half revenue of $467 million was more than double a year earlier and already 87% of 2025’s full-year total. Profit for the six months, $91 million, exceeded the whole of 2025, and in 2024 the company was making a loss