(Femi Otedola. Photo Credit: THISDAYLIVE)
With the purchase of 672.9 million more shares in the financial services company First HoldCo Plc, billionaire entrepreneur Femi Otedola now owns 20.4% of the company.
According to Nairametrics, which cited the allotment paperwork, Mr. Otedola completed the share acquisition through the N45 billion second tranche of the lender’s N350 billion private placement program on Thursday.
The deal is valued at N29.6 billion, based on the private placement offer price of N44 per share. In contrast, the closing price of the shares on Thursday was N61 per share.
According to a statement released on Wednesday, First HoldCo intends to use the proceeds from the initiative to fund its commercial banking business, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, as part of its larger balance sheet improvement program and capital restoration strategy.
With the approval of shareholders at its most recent annual general meeting in May, the group is working to increase its paid-up capital to N1 trillion.
“FirstHoldCo remains committed to raising the outstanding N221 billion following the successful completion of this second tranche of the N350 billion Private Placement program approved at the 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 22, 2025,” First Holdco stated.
In order to enable First Bank fulfill the N500 billion minimum capital requirement for banks with international authorization under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recapitalization regulation before the deadline of March 31, 2026, the group claimed to have previously invested some N270 billion in the bank.
Since becoming the banking group’s largest stakeholder in 2021, Mr. Otedola, the chair of the organization’s board of directors, has been accumulating shares.
According to a regulatory filing at the Nigerian Exchange, he purchased 549.5 million shares at N79 each in a transaction valued at N43.4 billion in May. Through his special purpose acquisition of Calvados Global Services Limited, he obtained the shares.
He paid N40.1 for each of the 370 million First HoldCo shares he bought in December of last year, totaling N14.8 billion.
He purchased 64.9 million shares worth N2 billion in the banking business earlier in September 2025: 25.6 million units worth N792.5 million through Calvados Global Services and 39.3 million units worth N1.2 billion in his own name.
Oba Otudeko and Oye Hassan-Odukale, Mr. Otedola’s erstwhile closest competitors in First HoldCo’s top ownership, suddenly sold their shares in the company in July.
A trader told reporters, at the time that up to 10.4 billion shares, or about 25% of the group’s total ordinary shares, were traded off-market in 17 transactions in a single day.
Mr. Odukale is the CEO of Leadway Assurance Company Limited, while Mr. Otudeko is the owner of Barbican Capital Limited.
In January 2024, Mr. Otedola was appointed chair of the First HoldCo board of directors. He owned the majority of African Petroleum, which subsequently changed its name to Forte Oil and is currently known as Ardova Plc, before going into banking.
Mr. Otedola sold his stake in Lagos-listed Geregu Power in December 2025 for a sum of $750 million.
He revealed plans to use private placement to invest $100 million in Dangote Petroleum Refinery last month.
