Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, has acquired an additional six million shares in Seplat Energy Plc for £53.2 million, raising the combined voting interest of companies controlled by him in the energy company to 21.07 per cent.

According to a notification filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Wednesday, the shares were acquired by Heirs Energies Limited, a company controlled by Elumelu. The transaction, which took place in London on September 30, 2026, involved the purchase of the shares at £8.87 each.

Following the acquisition, Heirs Energies’ direct holding in Seplat increased to 27,943,867 shares.

The filing further disclosed that Heirs Energies and Heirs Holdings Limited, both controlled by Elumelu, now jointly hold 126.4 million shares in Seplat, representing a 21.07 per cent voting interest based on the company’s 599,944,561 issued shares.

The latest acquisition comes less than a year after the two Heirs entities acquired 120.4 million Seplat shares from Maurel & Prom in December 2025. The purchase also comes ahead of Elumelu’s planned assumption of the chairmanship of Seplat.

Seplat had announced in June that its current chairman, Udoma Udo Udoma, would retire from the board’s chairmanship on December 31, 2026, after which Elumelu is expected to succeed him from January 1, 2027. Elumelu joined the Seplat board as a non-executive director in January 2026.

The latest transaction therefore increases the shareholding of the incoming chairman in the company ahead of his scheduled appointment, while the combined holding of the Heirs entities remains above one-fifth of Seplat’s issued shares.

The company said the transaction was disclosed in accordance with Rule 17.15(c) of the NGX Rulebook 2015 on disclosure of dealings in issuers’ shares and Article 19(3) of the UK Market Abuse Regulations. (The Sun)