Nigeria, June 19 -- Billionaire tycoon Femi Otedola has acquired 672.9 million new shares in financial services group First HoldCo Plc, taking his interest in the group to 20.4 per cent.

Mr Otedola executed the share purchase through the N45 billion second tranche of the lender's N350 billion private placement programme, Nairametrics reported on Thursday, citing the allotment document.

The private placement offer price of N44 per share puts the value of the transaction at N29.6 billion. That compares to the stock's closing price of N61 per share on Thursday.

First HoldCo is looking to inject the cash raised from the exercise into First Bank of Nigeria Limited, its commercial banking division, as part of its capital restoration plan and...