- Femi Otedola Deepens First HoldCo Bet with Fresh US$12 Million Share Purchase
Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has stepped up his accumulation of shares in First HoldCo Plc, acquiring another ₦18.11 billion, or about US$12 million, worth of stock just days after publicly signalling that his long-term investment strategy is built around majority ownership.
The latest transaction, disclosed in a regulatory filing dated August 7, involved the purchase of 138.04 million shares at ₦131.20 each through Calvados Global Services Limited, an investment vehicle linked to Otedola. The acquisition lifted his holding in First HoldCo to about 11.90 billion shares, equivalent to roughly 26.10% of the company.
The purchase is relatively small compared with some of his recent deals, but its timing is significant.
Only days earlier, Otedola had provided one of his clearest indications yet that his ambitions extend beyond simply being First HoldCo’s largest shareholder.
“My investment threshold is always above 51%,” Otedola told Nairametrics in an interview published on August 3, referring to the controlling positions he previously built in Forte Oil, now Ardova, and Geregu Power.
That statement has changed the way investors are likely to interpret each new share purchase.
Rather than being seen merely as portfolio accumulation, the transactions increasingly point towards a deliberate effort to consolidate control over First HoldCo, the financial-services group that owns FirstBank, one of Nigeria’s oldest and largest commercial banks.
At 26.10%, Otedola remains far below the 51.00% threshold that would constitute outright majority ownership. But the speed and scale of his buying have already significantly reshaped the company’s shareholder structure.
Last week, Calvados acquired approximately 1.78 billion shares for ₦222.20 billion, or around US$160 million, lifting Otedola’s interest from 21.96% to roughly 25.90%.
That transaction followed another acquisition of 706.10 million shares worth ₦77.60 billion in July, while a further 672.90 million shares valued at ₦29.60 billion were purchased in June.
Taken together, the transactions show an investor moving aggressively rather than incrementally.
The strategy also places Otedola at the centre of one of the most consequential ownership shifts in Nigeria’s banking industry.
First HoldCo traces its banking business to FirstBank, founded in 1894, giving the institution a history spanning more than 130 years. Its operations extend beyond Nigeria into other African markets and the United Kingdom.
Control of such an institution would therefore be very different from acquiring a majority stake in a smaller industrial company.
Banks occupy a special position in any economy. They hold deposits, allocate credit, finance companies and households and play a critical role in financial stability.
That means ownership changes at a major banking group inevitably attract closer regulatory and market attention.
Otedola’s buying spree has also coincided with a dramatic revaluation of First HoldCo shares.
The stock traded at around ₦148.35 on Friday, placing the value of his approximately 11.90 billion shares at about ₦1.77 trillion, or more than US$1 billion at recent exchange rates.
First HoldCo itself has crossed the ₦6 trillion market-capitalisation threshold, becoming the first Nigerian banking group to reach that valuation, according to the report.
Every additional purchase strengthens Otedola’s ownership position, but the rising share price also makes the journey towards majority control progressively more expensive.
If the market continues to revalue First HoldCo upward, accumulating another 20.00% or more of the company could require substantially more capital than earlier purchases.
At 26.10%, Otedola would theoretically need close to another 25 percentage points to cross 51.00%, assuming no other changes to the company’s share structure.
But he has already demonstrated a willingness to commit substantial personal capital.
Otedola has said he has invested about ₦600 billion of his own money in First HoldCo, describing the position as a long-term effort to rebuild value in the institution.
That is important because it suggests the strategy is not being presented as a short-term trade designed simply to benefit from rising share prices.
The bigger question is what majority ownership would ultimately mean for First HoldCo.
A controlling shareholder typically has greater influence over corporate strategy, board composition, capital allocation and long-term direction.
But banking is heavily regulated, meaning any significant ownership shift would still operate within Nigeria’s regulatory architecture and applicable shareholder rules.
At 26.10%, Otedola already has substantial economic exposure and voting weight. But majority ownership would place him in a fundamentally stronger position, provided regulatory and corporate-governance requirements are satisfied.
The company’s share-price rally has magnified the value of his holdings while helping First HoldCo achieve a landmark market capitalisation.
The latest US$12 million acquisition is therefore important not because of its size alone, but because it reinforces the direction of travel.
After spending hundreds of billions of naira accumulating shares over several months, Otedola has now publicly said that his usual investment threshold is above 51.00%.
His actions since then have not suggested that the accumulation is finished.
For investors, the next phase will revolve around three issues: how quickly he continues buying, how other large shareholders respond and whether the rising share price makes further accumulation materially more expensive.
There is also the question of how First HoldCo’s underlying business performance evolves.
A growing stake is valuable only if the company itself continues to generate sustainable earnings and capital strength.
The dramatic appreciation in the group’s market value means investors will increasingly scrutinise whether fundamentals justify the price investors are now willing to pay.
For Otedola, however, the latest transaction appears consistent with a familiar playbook.
He has previously built controlling positions in businesses where he sought significant influence over strategic direction.
His First HoldCo accumulation appears to be following that pattern, but on a considerably larger and more systemically important platform.
The fresh ₦18.11 billion purchase may therefore be only another step in a much larger corporate strategy.
At 26.10%, Otedola is already firmly established as First HoldCo’s dominant individual shareholder.
The more consequential question is no longer whether he intends to increase that position.
He has already signalled that he does.
The question is how far, how fast and at what cost he is prepared to go to turn a billion-dollar investment into majority control of one of Nigeria’s most historically significant banking groups.
