Billionaire investor Femi Otedola has acquired an additional 222.21 billion naira worth of First HoldCo Plc shares, taking his total position to about 11.76 billion shares and raising his stake in the company to roughly 26 percent, making him the largest shareholder in Nigeria’s oldest financial institution.

The purchase, disclosed through a regulatory filing, saw Otedola acquire 1,779,094,976 shares at 124.90 naira each, a price sitting below the stock’s closing market price, suggesting a negotiated block transaction. Under Nigerian takeover rules, a shareholder crossing 30 percent of a listed company must make a mandatory offer for the rest of the company, meaning Otedola remains roughly 2.5 billion shares below that threshold, a gap smaller than the block he purchased in July alone, though he has consistently described his accumulation as a long term investment rather than a route to outright control.

Otedola’s stake has grown steadily since mid-2025, when he held about 16 percent of the company, rising past 20 percent by mid-2026 before this latest purchase. The accumulation comes as First HoldCo reports record earnings, with pre-tax profit reaching 653.54 billion naira for the first half of 2026, an 83.5 percent increase year on year, while total assets grew 12.5 percent to 30 trillion naira. The company’s shares have gained more than 150 percent so far this year, pushing its market capitalization to 5.45 trillion naira, making it the most valuable banking stock on the Nigerian Exchange, ahead of Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company.