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Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola made a paper gain of about $815 million on his First HoldCo Plc shares in the third quarter of 2026, as the stock nearly tripled on the Nigerian Exchange.
Otedola is the chairman and largest shareholder of First HoldCo, the parent company of FirstBank, Nigeria's oldest commercial bank. First HoldCo shares closed at 57.20 naira on July 1 and at 159.90 naira on Sept. 30, a gain of 179.5%. The stock hit a record 162.80 naira on Sept. 18.
Otedola kept buying throughout the rally. Calvados Global Services, the company he uses to hold much of his First HoldCo stake, bought about 2.87 billion shares between July 22 and the end of August for roughly 351 billion naira, according to regulatory filings. The largest single purchase came on July 30, when Calvados bought 1,779,094,976 shares at 124.90 naira each for 222.2 billion naira. Other purchases included 706.13 million shares on July 22 for 77.58 billion naira, 138.04 million shares at 131.20 naira on Aug. 6, and 147.74 million shares at 140 naira on Aug. 14.
The buying lifted Otedola's holding from about 9.28 billion shares at the start of the quarter to about 12.15 billion shares. At the Sept. 30 closing price, that stake was worth about $1.46 billion, up from about $385 million on July 1, according to Billionaires.Africa calculations.
Most of that increase came from the rally itself. The 9.28 billion shares Otedola owned on July 1 rose in value by about $733 million over the quarter. The 2.87 billion shares he bought during the quarter cost him about $263 million and were worth about $345 million on Sept. 30, a paper gain of about $82 million. Together, those gains total about $815 million.
A stronger naira also helped. The currency firmed from 1,380.17 naira per dollar on July 1 to 1,328.02 naira on Sept. 30.
First HoldCo overtook Zenith Bank this year to become the most valuable banking group on the Nigerian Exchange. It was also the most traded stock on the exchange between May and August, as investors bet on a turnaround at FirstBank under Otedola's leadership and the group reported improved first-half earnings.
The stock drew more attention in September, when FTSE Russell added First HoldCo to its FTSE Frontier 50 Index. First HoldCo was one of six Nigerian companies among the 13 new members of the index, which tracks 50 leading companies across frontier markets. The other five were Guaranty Trust Holding Co., Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement and Aradel Holdings. FTSE Russell also returned Nigeria to frontier market status on Sept. 21, after a three-year absence from its classification.
Otedola built his first fortune in fuel distribution and later sold his controlling stake in Forte Oil. He has said that he intends to build a stake of more than 51% in First HoldCo. His purchases this year have made him by far the group's largest investor.
First HoldCo had a market value of about 7.11 trillion naira at the end of September.
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