Otedola’s shareholding in First HoldCo rises to 18%

Femi Otedola, the Chairperson of First HoldCo Plc, has raised his stake in the financial services group to 18.1 per cent, according to the company’s unaudited financial report for 2025 released on Friday.

The billionaire tycoon’s direct shareholding in the entity stood at 7.3 per cent or 3.3 billion shares as of 31 December 2025, while his indirect interest came to 10.8 per cent or 4.8 billion shares.

Altogether, his combined stake sums up to 8.06 billion shares.

Earlier in December, Mr Otedola acquired 370 million shares at N40.1 each in the bank holding company, putting the value of the transaction at N14.8 billion.

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He purchased the shares through Calvados Global Services Limited, his special purpose acquisition vehicle, according to a regulatory filing. PREMIUM TIMES’ estimate of his stake at the time of the transaction was 16.9 per cent.

In the same month, Mr Otedola divested his majority ownership in Geregu Power Plc in a deal estimated at $750 million, financed by a consortium of lenders led by Zenith Bank.

Sources said, following the deal, that the billionaire mogul was looking to invest more of his fortune in the financial sector.

According to the outcome of First HoldCo’s private placement released on 31 December 2025, ten applications from unnamed investors were received for 2.6 billion shares, all of them fully allotted.

The private placement took the total issued and fully paid-up shares of First HoldCo to 44.5 billion units from 41.9 billion units.

Last September, Mr Otedola acquired 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 estimated at N792.5 million via Calvados Global Services.

As of half-year 2025, he held 3.2 billion shares directly and 3.5 billion indirectly in the entity, according to First HoldCo’s unaudited financial report for the period.

In July 2025, Mr Otedola’s former closest rivals in the top ownership of First HoldCo, Oba Otudeko and Oye Hassan-Odukale, abruptly sold off their holdings in the group.

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As many as 10.4 billion shares, translating into 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.

Mr Otudeko controls Barbican Capital Limited, while Mr Odukale is the CEO of Leadway Assurance Company Limited.