Two of Nigeria’s richest men – Tony Elumelu and Femi Otedola, are battling for control of Transcorp, one of Nigeria’s biggest conglomerates, with each raising their stakes dramatically over the past week to gain upper hand.
While Elumelu, who has interests in banking, power, oil and hospitality, raised his share in Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc to 25.58% from 2.07%, according to a filing on the Lagos-based Nigerian Exchange on Thursday, business mogul Otedola had acquired 5.52% of the company, commonly known as Transcorp, a week earlier.
Otedola did not previously own shares in Transcorp, and the acquisition would have made him the biggest individual shareholder in the firm, displacing Elumelu, who also serves as chairman of the company.
On the other hand, Elumelu acquired the additional shares through his investment company Heirs Holdings Ltd.
Transcorp owns three power plants, which have a combined installed generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts. It also owns hotels in the capital, Abuja, the commercial hub Lagos and the southern city Calabar.
Through a joint venture with Heirs Holdings, Transcorp bought a 45% interest in OML 17 for $800 million in 2021 from Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Last Wednesday, Transcorp announced earnings of 32 billion naira ($69 million) in the three months to March, with net income of 1.86 billion naira. The stock was up 4.75% as of 12.31 p.m. in Lagos. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, it is up 173% so far this year.
