The man Forbes still classifies under “Energy and Utilities” has not made a major energy deal in over a year. Femi Otedola sold his majority position in Geregu Power Plc in 2025, walked away with roughly $750 million, and turned his attention elsewhere. That move barely made a ripple on the global billionaire tracker.
What happened next, though, reshaped his financial profile in ways that caught even seasoned market watchers off guard. His real-time net worth on the Forbes billionaire list sat at $1.9 billion as of September 1, 2026, placing him at No. 2,232 globally. That figure has likely climbed further, with BusinessDay reporting his fortune at $2 billion on September 19 following a record rally in his largest holding.
Instead, one stock on the Nigerian Exchange now carries the heaviest weight in his portfolio. The shift from energy mogul to financial services heavyweight happened fast, and the numbers behind it are staggering.
First HoldCo now anchors Otedola’s billionaire status
First HoldCo Plc, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria, the country’s oldest commercial lender, is doing the heavy lifting. Otedola holds approximately 12.34 billion shares in the group, representing about 27.6% of issued share capital, Billionaires.Africa reported in September 2026, citing NGX regulatory filings.
That position was worth approximately ₦1.97 trillion, or about $1.42 billion, when shares hit an all-time high of ₦159.90 on September 1, 2026, Billionaires.Africa reported. The stock then hit an intraday high of ₦162.80 on September 18, a 10% limit-up move that pushed its market cap past ₦2 trillion for the first time.
First HoldCo’s market capitalization crossed the ₦7 trillion mark that same week, making it the first listed Nigerian bank to reach that threshold. The rally has been fueled by record earnings, with pre-tax profit surging 83.5% year-on-year to ₦653.4 billion in the first half of 2026, ThisDay reported. That performance stands out even among Nigerian banks that have split sharply on pricing strategy this year.
How Otedola built his First HoldCo stake from scratch
Otedola became chairman of First HoldCo in January 2024, when the stock traded between ₦19 and ₦22 per share. Since then, shares have surged roughly 618%, reaching record territory in September 2026, BusinessDay noted in a recent analysis.
Key share acquisitions in 2026:
- ₦43.41 billion purchase of 549.5 million shares at ₦79 each on May 13, 2026, Channels TV reported.
- ₦222.2 billion purchase of 1.78 billion shares at ₦124.90 each on July 30, 2026, Nairametrics confirmed.
- ₦12.58 billion purchase of 95.7 million shares at ₦131.48 each on August 24, 2026, Nairametrics disclosed.
The filings show that he executed all acquisitions through Calvados Global Services Limited, his investment vehicle. Otedola has publicly stated he intends to push his ownership beyond 51%, signaling a long-term commitment to the institution.
“I am sure that you can see from my antecedents that my investment threshold is always over and above 51%,” Otedola told Nairametrics in an exclusive interview published on August 3, 2026.
Nigerian takeover rules require a mandatory bid for remaining shares once any investor crosses the 30% ownership threshold. Otedola currently sits about 2.4 percentage points below that trigger, which adds a regulatory dimension to his accumulation strategy.
Otedola’s exit from energy paved the way for this bet
The Forbes profile still lists Otedola’s source of wealth as “Energy and Utilities,” reflecting a career built on commodities, oil marketing, and power generation. He controlled Forte Oil, one of Nigeria’s largest petroleum marketers, before selling his 75% stake to Prudent Energy in 2019.
He then built a dominant position in Geregu Power Plc, raising his ownership from 51% to 95% before listing the company on the NGX in 2022. The 2025 sale of that majority stake generated approximately $750 million, the Forbes profile indicated, freeing capital for his banking play. The energy sector he left behind has since seen its own reshuffling among major players, but Otedola’s capital now flows in a different direction entirely.
That pattern of aggressive accumulation, corporate restructuring, and eventual exit now appears to be repeating itself at First HoldCo. The difference is scale: his First HoldCo position at current valuations dwarfs what he held in either Forte Oil or Geregu Power at their peaks.
FTSE Frontier 50 inclusion gives First HoldCo a global stage
First HoldCo’s inclusion in the FTSE Frontier 50 Index, effective September 19, 2026, gives the stock exposure to international fund flows. The bank is one of six Nigerian companies in the 50-stock benchmark, alongside Zenith Bank, GTCO, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, and Aradel Holdings.
Nigeria’s return to FTSE Russell’s Frontier Market classification follows a three-year spell as an Unclassified market. The reclassification could attract passive fund allocations into Nigerian equities, though actual capital inflows will depend on the stock’s index weighting and broader investor appetite.
What the numbers show
- Otedola’s Forbes-tracked net worth stood at $1.9 billion as of September 1, 2026, ranking him No. 2,232 globally, though BusinessDay reported it at $2 billion by September 19.
- His First HoldCo stake of 12.34 billion shares is valued at roughly $1.52 billion at the September 18 record intraday price of ₦162.80, Billionaires.Africa reported.
- First HoldCo’s pre-tax profit surged 83.5% to ₦653.4 billion in H1 2026, with return on average equity reaching 30.4%, ThisDay reported.
- The stock has gained approximately 618% since Otedola became chairman in January 2024, BusinessDay noted.
Otedola’s wealth engine has fundamentally shifted
Wale Oyedeji, First HoldCo’s group managing director, described the first-half results as evidence that the bank’s strategic repositioning is working, Billionaires.Africa reported.
“These results affirm that the bold decisions the Board took to strengthen the institution were the right ones,” Otedola said in the earnings release, the outlet noted.
Whether the rally continues depends on First HoldCo’s ability to sustain its earnings trajectory and international investor participation after the FTSE re-entry. For now, the man Forbes labels an energy billionaire has become one of Africa’s most consequential banking investors instead.
