FirstHoldCo AGM approves Otedola’s N1 trillion capital target

FirstHoldCo shareholders voted today to approve a special resolution authorising the company to raise up to N253.099 billion, approximately $183.4 million, in fresh capital, clearing the path for chairman Femi Otedola’s ambition of pushing Nigeria’s oldest bank toward a N1 trillion, roughly $724.6 million, paid-up capital base.

The resolution was passed at the group’s 14th Annual General Meeting held today, May 29, in Lagos. With the vote approved, FirstHoldCo is now authorised to raise the capital through any combination of public offerings, private placements, rights issues, bonus issues, scrip dividends or other equity instruments in the Nigerian or international capital markets, in tranches and at terms to be determined by the board subject to regulatory approvals.

The approval marks the culmination of a multi-stage recapitalisation strategy that Otedola has been driving since assuming the chairmanship of FirstHoldCo in January 2024. The group has already completed a N45 billion, approximately $32.6 million, private placement in March 2026, conducted a rights issue and divested its FBNQuest merchant banking subsidiary as part of the broader balance sheet strengthening programme. The N253 billion raise, now authorised by shareholders, is the final and largest single tranche needed to close the gap to the N1 trillion target.

The N1 trillion threshold is double the Central Bank of Nigeria’s existing N500 billion, approximately $362.3 million, minimum capital requirement for banks with international operating licences, which FirstHoldCo had already met. Otedola has publicly argued that the CBN should raise that minimum to N1 trillion, describing Nigeria’s current banking capitalisation as inadequate for an economy targeting a $1 trillion GDP. FirstHoldCo, by reaching N1 trillion first, would hold the competitive benchmark it helped set and would pressure its FUGAZ peers, Zenith Bank, UBA, GTCO and Access Holdings, into their own fresh capital raises.

The shareholder vote took place against a backdrop of the strongest quarterly results FirstHoldCo has produced in years. The group reported Q1 2026 profit before tax of N321.12 billion, approximately $232.7 million, a 72.2 percent surge from N186.48 billion, or $135.1 million, in Q1 2025. Profit after tax rose 56.52 percent to N267.80 billion, approximately $194.1 million. The group absorbed a historic N826.3 billion, roughly $598.8 million, impairment in FY2025 to clean its balance sheet in a single year, and the Q1 2026 performance confirmed the strategy had worked.

Otedola’s personal commitment to the institution remained visible in the run-up to today’s vote. On May 13, he acquired 549,535,653 additional FirstHoldCo shares at N79, approximately $0.057, per share through his Calvados Global Services Limited vehicle, spending N43.41 billion, roughly $31.5 million, in the largest single insider purchase since he became chairman. His combined direct and indirect shareholding now stands at 8,604,850,139 units, representing 19.36 percent of the company’s issued capital.

He also confirmed during the recent refinery visit alongside Dangote that he has earmarked $100 million of the proceeds from his December 2025 Geregu Power exit for a personal investment in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO, underscoring a capital deployment philosophy that backs Africa’s largest industrial and financial institutions simultaneously.

With shareholder authority now secured, the board will determine the specific timing, pricing and structure of the N253 billion raise based on prevailing market conditions and regulatory approvals. The first step is likely to be a follow-on public offering on the Nigerian Exchange, where FirstHoldCo’s stock has gained more than 57 percent year to date and currently trades well above its 52-week low of N24.50. At the N79 price at which Otedola himself was buying earlier this month, the mathematics of a new public raise are constructive for both the company and prospective investors entering at current levels.

The N1 trillion paid-up capital target, once reached, would make FirstHoldCo the first Nigerian bank to self-impose a capital standard double the regulatory minimum. That is the point Otedola has been making since he arrived. Today’s vote means the market will now find out whether he can deliver it.