Nigerian businessman Tony Elumelu makes fresh $71 million move for oil company he is set to chair

Nigerian investor Tony Elumelu has increased his interest in Seplat Energy, buying another six million shares through a company he controls months before he is due to become chairman of the oil and gas producer.

• Elumelu-controlled Heirs Energies bought six million additional Seplat shares in London on 30 September.
• At £8.87 a share, the purchase totalled £53.22 million, or approximately $71 million at the sterling rate around the transaction date.
• Elumelu-controlled companies now hold a combined 21.07% voting interest in Seplat.
• He is due to become chairman on 1 January 2027; the company has not stated why the additional shares were bought.

Heirs Energies purchased the shares in London on 30 September at £8.87 each, putting the value of the new transaction at £53.22 million, approximately $71 million. The dollar amount is an estimate, the transaction was reported in pounds.

The purchase takes the combined holding of Elumelu-controlled Heirs Energies and Heirs Holdings to 126.4 million shares, representing 21.07% of Seplat’s voting rights.

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The shares are held through those companies, rather than all being registered in Elumelu’s personal name.

Elumelu joined Seplat’s board in January and is scheduled to become its chairman on 1 January 2027. The additional purchase increases his companies’ financial exposure to Seplat before he takes that role.

Seplat is a big name in African energy, it produces oil and gas in Nigeria, supplies gas to the domestic market and has shares traded in both London and Lagos.

The new acquisition therefore links a prominent African investor’s growing stake to the future leadership of a major Nigerian producer.

Seplat’s 30 September stock-market notification⁠ provides the share count, purchase price and resulting 21.07% voting interest. It describes the buyer as Heirs Energies, a company controlled by Elumelu.

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A larger stake before a change at the top

This is an addition to an established position. Earlier in 2026, Elumelu-controlled companies acquired a 20.07% interest in Seplat from French oil company Maurel & Prom in a transaction valued at approximately $496 million.

The latest six-million-share purchase lifts their reported voting interest by about one percentage point. Maurel & Prom disclosed the earlier sale⁠.

Seplat announced its leadership succession in June⁠, current chairman Udoma Udo Udoma intends to retire at the end of December, with Elumelu taking over the following day.

At the time, Elumelu said, “I am honoured to succeed Senator Udoma as Chairman in January 2027 and to lead the Board through Seplat Energy’s next phase of growth.”

This matters because a larger holding and an incoming chairmanship can suggest a stronger commitment to the business.