Femi Otedola, the chair of the financial services group First HoldCo Plc, has purchased new shares valued at N43.4 billion in the banking group, according to a regulatory filing at the Nigerian Exchange on Wednesday.
He acquired 549.5 million shares at N79 per unit on Wednesday through Calvados Global Services Limited, his special purpose acquisition, the document showed.
Mr Otedola, who is the biggest shareholder in the First HoldCo, itself the parent company of Nigeria’s oldest bank (First Bank), held a combined stake of 18.1 per cent in the group as of December 2025, according to First HoldCo’s latest audited earnings report.
While he held 7.3 per cent (3.3 billion shares) directly, he held 10.8 per cent (4.8 billion shares) via Calvados Global Services.
The new share purchase takes his total shareholding in the financial services group to 19.4 per cent (8.6 billion shares).
Last December, the billionaire tycoon procured 370 million shares of First HoldCo at N40.1 each in a deal estimated at N14.8 billion.
Earlier in September 2025, he bought 64.9 million shares valued at N2 billion in the banking group: 39.3 million units worth N1.2 billion in his own name and 25.6 million units worth N792.5 million via Calvados Global Services.
Mr Otedola’s former closest rivals in the top ownership of First HoldCo, Oba Otudeko and Oye Hassan-Odukale, abruptly sold off their stakes in the group last July.
As many as 10.4 billion shares, equivalent to almost 25 per cent of the group’s entire ordinary shares, were traded off-market in 17 deals on a single day, a trader told PREMIUM TIMES at the time.
“The sellers were Barbican Capital Limited & affiliates and Leadway Group & affiliates, and the buyer was RC Investment Management Limited,” First HoldCo said in a statement issued after the transactions.
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Mr Otudeko controls Barbican Capital Limited, while Mr Odukale is the CEO of Leadway Assurance Company Limited.
Mr Otedola became the chair of the board of directors of First HoldCo in January 2024. Before venturing into banking, he was the majority owner of African Petroleum, which later became Forte Oil and is now known as Ardova Plc.
He offloaded his stake in the energy company in December 2018 to Ignite Investments and Commodities Limited, and pivoted into power generation, acquiring a controlling interest in Geregu Power Plc.
In December 2025, Mr Otedola divested his holding in Lagos-listed Geregu Power in a deal valued at $750 million.
