By Àkànní Olúwaségún Michael
First HoldCo Plc has secured shareholder approval to raise up to N253.1 billion in fresh equity as the parent company of Nigeria’s oldest commercial lender presses ahead with an ambitious plan to build a N1 trillion capital base, going well beyond the Central Bank of Nigeria’s current regulatory minimum.
The approval was granted at the company’s 14th Annual General Meeting, held virtually on 29 May 2026, where investors passed a special resolution authorising the financial services holding company to raise precisely N253,099,328,580.50 “to achieve N1 trillion paid-up capital comprising share capital and share premium.”
The fundraising may be implemented through public offerings, private placements, rights issues, bonus issues, scrip dividends or other equity instruments on the Nigerian and international capital markets, with pricing to be determined by a book-building process or any other valuation method the board deems appropriate.
Shareholders also approved the underwriting of the exercise “on such terms as may be determined by the Directors, subject to obtaining the approvals of the relevant regulatory authorities,” and authorised the board to list and admit any securities issued under the programme on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and other relevant markets.
The capital drive follows First Bank of Nigeria’s earlier compliance with the CBN’s N500 billion minimum threshold for international commercial banking licences, a bar the bank cleared ahead of schedule.
By targeting N1 trillion, First HoldCo is setting a higher standard still. Chairman Femi Otedola has argued publicly that Nigeria’s aspirations towards a one-trillion-dollar economy cannot be underwritten by weakly capitalised banks, and that a stronger capital base is inseparable from better governance and reduced room for institutions to be “run like personal estates.”
The N253 billion raise builds on prior fundraising efforts. The group completed a N45 billion private placement in March 2026 and has divested its merchant banking subsidiary, FBNQuest, as part of a broader strategy to clean up and sharpen the balance sheet. A massive N826 billion legacy debt cleanup in late 2025 has already freed the group to pursue higher-yielding private sector credit opportunities.
The financial logic behind the raise is underpinned by a strong set of recent numbers. First HoldCo reported a 72 per cent year-on-year surge in profit before tax to N321.1 billion in the first quarter of 2026, outpacing the growth rates of its tier-one rivals. Its return on equity for the quarter stood at 31.6 per cent on an annualised basis, the highest among the so-called FUGAZ cohort of Nigeria’s largest banks, ahead of Zenith Bank at 24.9 per cent and GTCO at 24.8 per cent.
The recovery has been sharpened at the subsidiary level. First Bank chief executive Olusegun Alebiosu, a former chief risk officer, has converted aggressive loan recovery into a significant revenue stream, with the bank recouping N19 billion in delinquent loans during the first quarter alone, a 1,570 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier.
At the AGM, shareholders also re-elected Chairman Otedola and non-executive director Abiodun Fatade, received the company’s audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025, approved the constitution of the statutory audit committee for the 2026 financial year, and authorised the board to fix the remuneration of external auditor KPMG Professional Services until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting.
The move positions First HoldCo among the Nigerian banking groups racing to comply with and, in some cases, exceed the CBN’s ongoing recapitalisation programme, which has compelled lenders across the industry to raise fresh capital or face restrictions on the scope of their operations.
