Billionaire investor and businessman, Femi Otedola, has further strengthened his influence in FirstHoldCo Plc, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria, following the acquisition of additional shares valued at N14.8 billion.
The latest share purchase was disclosed in a regulatory notice signed by the Group Company Secretary, Abiola Baruwa, and filed with the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on Thursday. The transaction pushed Otedola’s total equity holding in the financial services holding company to over 17 per cent.
According to the filing, the shares were acquired through Calvados Global Services Limited, an investment vehicle linked to Otedola. A total of 369,986,122 ordinary shares were purchased on December 18 at an average price of N40.06 per share.
The transaction represents the most recent in a series of strategic acquisitions by the billionaire investor, underscoring his growing interest in the banking group. Earlier, on September 25, 2025, Otedola had expanded his stake with the purchase of 64.87 million shares valued at approximately N2.01 billion.
Further details disclosed by FirstHoldCo at the time showed that 39.3 million shares were bought directly by Otedola on September 23 for about N1.2 billion, while an additional 25.6 million shares were acquired indirectly through Calvados Global Services Limited at a cost of N793.6 million.
Those earlier transactions raised his ownership stake in the company to 16.1 per cent from 13.15 per cent recorded in September 2024.
Market analysts say Otedola’s continued accumulation of FirstHoldCo shares signals strong confidence in the group’s long-term prospects and could further reshape the ownership structure of one of Nigeria’s oldest and most influential banking institutions.