Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has spent about $300 million buying bank shares this year raising his First HoldCo stake to 26% as he targets a 51% majority takeover

The buying spree is increasingly looking like more than a portfolio investment. Otedola, whose business interests have ranged from energy and power generation to finance, said this week that he is following a similar trajectory at First HoldCo to investments where he ultimately accumulated majority control, raising the possibility that his next destination could be ownership of more than 51%.

That would give one of Africa’s wealthiest businessmen majority ownership of a financial group built around FirstBank, a 132-year-old lender with operations extending beyond Nigeria into Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia and the United Kingdom.

Getting there, however, would require considerably more capital.

Otedola currently controls nearly 12 billion First HoldCo shares, equivalent to about 26.1% of the group. His latest purchase, disclosed on Friday, added another 138.04 million shares for ₦18.11 billion, or roughly $14 million.

It was only the latest in an unusually aggressive year of accumulation. Major disclosed transactions reviewed indicate that Otedola has spent approximately ₦391 billion, around $300 million, acquiring First HoldCo shares in 2026 alone.

That means much of the money he has committed to the banking group has arrived remarkably recently.

Otedola said this week that he has invested more than ₦600 billion, approximately $460 million, of his personal wealth in First HoldCo overall.

The disclosed purchases made in 2026 alone therefore represent roughly two-thirds of the total investment he says he has made.

From chairman to dominant shareholder

Otedola’s position looked considerably different when he took charge of First HoldCo. He joined its board on August 15, 2023, as a non-executive director.

At the end of 2023, immediately before that appointment, Otedola held about 2.03 billion shares directly and through his investment vehicle, Calvados Global Services. The position represented 5.65% of the group.

By the end of 2024, his holdings had more than doubled to approximately 4.23 billion shares, or 11.8%.

A year later, he controlled around 8.06 billion shares, equivalent to 18.12% of First HoldCo’s enlarged share capital.

Then the pace accelerated. Otedola bought 549.54 million shares for ₦43.41 billion in May.

He subsequently acquired hundreds of millions more through First HoldCo’s capital raising before spending ₦77.58 billion on another 706.13 million shares in July.

Days later came his biggest disclosed purchase of the year: approximately 1.78 billion shares costing ₦222.21 billion.

Friday’s ₦18.11 billion transaction pushed his position to almost 12 billion shares and approximately 26.1%.

The number of First HoldCo shares controlled by Otedola has increased almost sixfold from the level reported immediately before he became chairman.

Why First HoldCo matters beyond Nigeria

Otedola is not simply accumulating shares in a domestic Nigerian lender. First HoldCo sits above FirstBank, an institution founded in 1894 and one of the oldest surviving banking franchises in sub-Saharan Africa.

The bank has built operations across West and Central Africa, including Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, alongside a presence in the United Kingdom.

That footprint gives Otedola’s growing control broader significance than his percentage ownership of a Nigerian-listed company alone.

It also comes as banking groups across Africa are being reshaped by tighter capital requirements, consolidation and growing competition for cross-border corporate and retail customers.

Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, is in the middle of a particularly significant recapitalisation exercise after its central bank raised minimum capital requirements for lenders.

First HoldCo is raising additional equity as part of efforts to strengthen FirstBank’s capital base, with shareholders approving plans to raise as much as ₦253.1 billion. Otedola has been among the biggest sources of capital.

The billionaire has now provided the clearest indication yet that his accumulation may not stop at 26%.

In an interview this week, Otedola compared First HoldCo with two previous investments where he progressively increased his ownership until he secured control.

At African Petroleum, which later became Forte Oil, he said he moved from 28% ownership to 75%.

At Nigerian electricity producer Geregu Power, he moved from a 51% controlling stake to as much as 95% before subsequently reducing his ownership after listing the company.

“I am on the same trajectory with First HoldCo Plc,” Otedola said.

The statement changes how his recent purchases can be viewed. Crossing 51% would transform Otedola from First HoldCo’s dominant shareholder into its outright majority owner.

But the journey from 26% to 51% could be considerably more expensive than the one that brought him this far.

First HoldCo’s share price has risen sharply alongside the billionaire’s accumulation and improvements in investor sentiment.

The stock ended 2025 at ₦47.90. Otedola paid ₦131.20 per share in his latest transaction.

His nearly 12 billion shares would be worth roughly ₦1.57 trillion, or around $1.2 billion, at that transaction price.

That is an indicative market valuation rather than cash Otedola could necessarily realise, selling such a large holding could itself affect the share price.

More importantly, buying another quarter of the company would not simply involve multiplying today’s price by the number of shares required.

First HoldCo is raising capital, which can expand its share count. Acquiring billions of shares in the open market could also push prices higher, while Nigerian takeover rules become relevant once an investor crosses certain ownership thresholds.

So 51% could be an increasingly expensive destination.

A billionaire’s bet on African banking

The scale of Otedola’s commitment is striking even by the standards of Africa’s wealthiest investors.

He has described the more than ₦600 billion he has invested in First HoldCo as a generational investment rather than a short-term trade.

The timing also coincides with a transformation at the banking group.

First HoldCo is strengthening FirstBank’s capital position while attempting to improve profitability and put legacy balance-sheet problems behind it.

For Otedola, the bet is increasingly concentrated.

He entered 2024 controlling just over one-twentieth of First HoldCo and holding its chairmanship.

Less than three years later, he owns more than a quarter of a group whose flagship bank has operated for more than a century and expanded across several African markets.

And after roughly $300 million of disclosed share purchases this year alone, Otedola has now openly invoked the same ownership trajectory that previously took him beyond 51%.

Otedola has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars turning himself into First HoldCo’s dominant shareholder. The next stage of the billionaire’s bet could determine whether he intends to become its outright owner.