FirstHoldCoPlc says it will channel part of its next capital raise into expanding into new markets outside Nigeria and acquiring new business lines, as the financial holding company moves into the closing stages of its recapitalisation drive.
Group managing director Wale Oyedeji disclosed the plan during the company’s half-year 2026 earnings recently, saying the additional capital expected in the second half of the year would go beyond meeting regulatory thresholds to fund entry into new markets and ventures aimed at building long-term shareholder value.
“There will be an injection of capital to acquire new business verticals,” Oyedeji said, adding that the group would also boost the bank’s capital to support its own expansion plans.
He said the company has already identified specific foreign markets it intends to enter, marking a shift after a period in which international expansion had been paused.
The update gives investors a clearer sense of how the group plans to use proceeds from its upcoming capital raise, moving the narrative from regulatory compliance toward growth spending.
The plan follows two capital-raising exercises completed over the past year to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s revised minimum capital rules. FirstBank, FirstHoldCo’s banking subsidiary, met the CBN’s ₦500 billion minimum capital threshold for international banking authorization earlier in the year.
Shareholders had already approved a capital raise of up to ₦253.099 billion at the company’s 14th Annual General Meeting on May 29, 2026, as part of a push toward ₦1 trillion in paid-up capital. The group also completed a ₦45 billion private placement in March.
Oyedeji said the expansion plans would not come at the cost of shareholder returns, maintaining that the group remains committed to sustaining return on equity above 30 percent regardless of the scale of new capital raised.
He added that the group’s strategy now extends beyond banking, with proceeds also expected to fund investment in digital infrastructure, cross-border payments capability, and other non-banking businesses across Africa through to 2029.
