Otedola boosts First HoldCo shares to 25.86% with new purchase

Femi Otedola, the chairman of First HoldCo Plc, has raised his stake in the financial services group to 25.86 percent. He achieved this by buying 1.78 billion shares for about ₦222.20 billion.

On Thursday, First HoldCo announced in a regulatory filing that Otedola, through Calvados Global Services Limited, bought 1,779,094,976 ordinary shares at ₦124.90 each. This new purchase is 3.91 percent of the company’s total shares.

After this transaction, Otedola now holds approximately 11.8 billion shares in the banking group. This amount represents 25.86 percent of the company’s issued share capital.

As of 11:24 a.m. (WAT) on 30 July, the company’s share price was ₦122.95. This means Otedola’s stake is now worth about ₦1.45 trillion.

Otedola has been increasing his investment in First HoldCo ever since he became the largest shareholder in 2021.

Recently, on 22 July, he bought another 706.1 million shares for ₦77.6 billion. This raised his stake to 21.95 percent at that time. In June, he also purchased 672.9 million shares valued at ₦29.6 billion.

The June purchase happened during the ₦45 billion second part of First HoldCo’s ₦350 billion private placement program. Shares in this program were sold at ₦44 each.

First HoldCo plans to use the money from this capital raise to support First Bank of Nigeria Limited, its main commercial banking arm. This is part of its effort to strengthen its capital and improve its overall balance sheet.