Femi Otedola has made his biggest move yet in First HoldCo Plc, spending about ₦222.2 billion on another 1.779 billion shares and pushing his beneficial ownership of the financial group to 25.87%.
The transaction takes the billionaire investor’s total holding to 11.76 billion shares and places him within 4.13 percentage points of a threshold that could materially change the nature of any further accumulation.
Under Nigeria’s Investments and Securities Act 2025, an investor seeking to acquire shares carrying 30% or more of a public company’s voting rights must make a takeover bid to other shareholders, subject to the applicable rules and exemptions.
Otedola has made no public announcement that he intends to cross that threshold.
But after spending almost ₦300 billion on First HoldCo shares in little more than a week, the market now has a bigger question to answer: is this simply an investor increasing his exposure to one of Nigeria’s fastest-rising bank stocks, or is First HoldCo entering a new phase of concentrated ownership?
Why Is Otedola Buying So Aggressively?
The latest transaction involved 1,779,094,976 shares purchased at ₦124.90 each, putting the deal value at approximately ₦222.2 billion.
It came shortly after Calvados Global Services Limited, an entity related to Otedola, acquired 706.13 million shares for ₦77.59 billion at ₦109.88 per share.
That earlier purchase lifted his beneficial interest to 21.96%. The latest deal has now taken it to 25.87%.
Together, the two transactions represent almost ₦300 billion in fresh purchases within just over a week.
The speed of the accumulation is as important as its size.
Otedola already chairs First HoldCo and has steadily increased his ownership over the past several years. The latest purchases move him beyond being merely an influential shareholder and give him an increasingly significant economic interest in the future performance of the group.
At the ₦124.90 transaction price, his 11.76 billion shares would be valued at roughly ₦1.47 trillion.
How Close Is Otedola to the 30% Threshold?
Very close.
The Investments and Securities Act 2025 says a person must not acquire shares carrying 30% or more of the voting rights of a company without entering the takeover framework. The rule also applies where investors acting in concert cross that threshold.
An investor intending to reach 30% or more must make a takeover bid to other shareholders.
That does not mean a shareholder automatically acquires the entire company at 30%.
It means crossing the threshold changes the regulatory process surrounding further control.
At 25.87%, Otedola remains below it.
Based on the current number of shares implied by his disclosed stake, another roughly 1.88 billion shares would mathematically take his ownership to around 30%, assuming the company’s issued share capital does not change.
At ₦124.90 per share, that amount would be worth approximately ₦235 billion.
The calculation is illustrative, not a prediction of another purchase.
There is also an additional regulatory layer because First HoldCo is a financial holding company. CBN rules require regulatory oversight over material changes in ownership and significant shareholdings in financial institutions.
The next few percentage points therefore matter more than the previous few.
Is Otedola Preparing to Take Control of First HoldCo?
There is not enough public evidence to make that claim.
Previous reports have cited unnamed sources suggesting Femi Otedola could eventually seek 51%, but neither Otedola nor First HoldCo has publicly confirmed such a target.
That distinction matters.
A large shareholder buying more shares is evidence of accumulation. It is not, by itself, evidence of an intention to acquire majority control.
But investors can reasonably examine what the pattern says.
Otedola’s ownership has continued rising even as First HoldCo’s valuation has surged. He has not been accumulating only when the stock was cheap; he has continued buying as the market re-rated the company.
That suggests the investment case, at least from his actions, extends beyond capturing a short-term share-price recovery.
Why First HoldCo Is Suddenly Worth Much More
Otedola’s latest purchase comes alongside one of the strongest earnings periods in First HoldCo’s history.
The group reported profit before tax of ₦653.54 billion for the six months ended June 2026, up 83.5% from ₦356.15 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
Profit after tax rose to ₦526.13 billion.
The improvement came despite a slight decline in interest income, as stronger fee income, lower impairment pressure and improved operating efficiency supported earnings.
First HoldCo ended the period with total assets of about ₦30.65 trillion, customer deposits of ₦21.93 trillion and net loans and advances of ₦9.51 trillion.
Those numbers have changed the market’s perception of the business.
First HoldCo spent years dealing with legacy bad loans, asset-quality concerns and questions about whether its profitability could match Nigeria’s strongest Tier-1 banks.
Its latest results suggest that some of that drag is easing.
The market has responded aggressively.
First HoldCo shares have more than doubled during 2026, and the company recently crossed the ₦5 trillion market-capitalisation level during trading, pushing it into the top tier of Nigeria’s most valuable listed financial institutions.
Is Otedola Buying the Bank After Its Problems Were Cleaned Up?
That is perhaps the more interesting investment question.
The bank’s recent profitability did not emerge in isolation.
First HoldCo took substantial impairment charges in 2025 as part of efforts to address legacy problem loans and strengthen its balance sheet. Those provisions depressed earnings at the time but created the possibility of cleaner earnings when credit costs normalised.
The H1 2026 numbers are beginning to show what that cleaner balance sheet might produce.
For a long-term shareholder, that creates a different thesis from simply betting on higher interest rates.
If First HoldCo can sustain stronger asset quality, improve returns on equity and grow fee-based businesses, its valuation could increasingly be compared with stronger African banking franchises rather than its own historically discounted multiples.
The risk is that investors may already be pricing in much of that recovery.
A stock that has risen more than 100% in a relatively short period leaves less room for disappointment.
Otedola, however, has continued buying into that re-rating.
What Happens If His Stake Keeps Rising?
The next stage will be closely watched.
At 25.87%, Otedola has substantial influence, but majority ownership remains far away.
Thirty per cent is the more immediate regulatory marker.
Nigeria’s takeover framework is designed to ensure that when an investor seeks that degree of voting control, other shareholders receive information and an opportunity to participate under a formal process.
That protects minority investors from a situation where effective control changes hands through a series of private or market transactions without corresponding safeguards.
Any attempt to move materially beyond Otedola’s current position would therefore attract scrutiny not only from investors but from capital-market and banking regulators.
For First HoldCo shareholders, that makes ownership structure almost as important as earnings over the coming months.
The Bigger Story Is No Longer the ₦222 Billion
Otedola’s latest transaction is remarkable because of its size.
But ₦222.2 billion is not the number investors should watch most closely.
25.87% is.
It places one of Nigeria’s most prominent investors within sight of a regulatory threshold that separates ordinary accumulation from a potential takeover process.
At the same time, First HoldCo is reporting record earnings, attracting stronger investor interest and trading at valuations that would have looked difficult to imagine when concerns over legacy loans dominated the investment case.
Otedola may simply believe that the bank remains undervalued despite the rally.
He may also see strategic value in owning a larger portion of a financial group he already chairs.
What cannot yet be established is whether 25.87% is close to his destination or merely another stop along the way.
That is now the question the market will be watching.
