By Ayomide Otitoju
Femi Otedola, Chairman of First HoldCo Plc, on Wednesday acquired additional shares in the company valued at about N43.41 billion.
The transaction was disclosed in a regulatory filing submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited and signed by the group company secretary, Abiola Baruwa.
According to the filing, the acquisition was executed on the Nigerian Exchange on May 13, 2026, and involved the purchase of 549,535,653 shares at an average price of N79 per share.
Following the latest acquisition, Otedola’s stake in First HoldCo increased from 8,055,314,486 shares, as reported in the company’s 2025 audited financial statements, to 8,604,850,139 shares.
The purchase raises the billionaire businessman’s total shareholding in the financial institution to 19.36 per cent, marking his largest single acquisition since assuming office as chairman in January 2024.
Otedola had earlier increased his stake in the company on September 25, 2025, through the acquisition of 64.87 million shares valued at N2.01 billion.
Of the shares acquired at the time, 39.3 million units worth about N1.2 billion were purchased directly on September 23, while an additional 25.6 million shares valued at N793.6 million were acquired indirectly through Calvados Global Services Limited on the same day.
The earlier transactions raised his stake in First HoldCo to 16.1 per cent from the 13.15 per cent shareholding recorded in September 2024.
