Heirs Energies Limited purchased 6 million Seplat Energy shares at £8.87 each on September 30, 2026, in a London transaction valued at £53.2 million.
Following the deal, Heirs Energies and Heirs Holdings (both controlled by Tony Elumelu) now hold 126.4 million shares in Seplat, representing a 21.07% voting interest based on the company's 599.9 million issued shares. The price per share is nearly three times the 305 pence Heirs paid in December 2025, when it acquired Maurel & Prom's entire 20.07% stake for $496 million.
Buying at the top, on purpose:
Seplat closed at a record ₦16,000.10 on the Nigerian Exchange on 30 September, up about 41% in the third quarter alone. Paying close to an all-time high is the move of an owner settling in. Elumelu joined Seplat's board in January and becomes chairman on 1 January 2027, succeeding Senator Udoma Udo Udoma. Effiong Okon took over as chief executive from Roger Brown on 1 August.
Seplat Energy is the sixth-largest company by market capitalisation on the Nigerian Exchange and a leading independent oil and gas producer in the Niger Delta. Elumelu's expansion to 21% makes Heirs the single largest disclosed shareholder in a sector critical to Nigeria's economy.
In the first half of 2026, Seplat reported:
Revenue of $1.82 billion, up 30%
Profit before tax of $574.9 million (₦790.4 billion), up 96% in dollar terms
Production of 139,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day
Net debt down 45% since December to $370.7 million
Zoom out further and this is part of a bigger shift. As international oil majors sell their onshore and shallow-water assets, Nigerian capital is buying them. Seplat's largest shareholder is now a Nigerian banker who already owns an oil block through Heirs Energies, and who is about to chair one of the country's biggest independent producers.
What's coming:
The NNPC deal. Seplat is selling 10% of its shallow-water subsidiary, Seplat Energy Producing Nigeria Unlimited, to NNPC for $281.6 million. Completion is expected in the second half of 2026, with about half the proceeds paid out as a one-off "transaction dividend".
Third-quarter results, the first full quarter under Okon.
1 January 2027, when Elumelu takes the chair.
What it means for you:
Seplat declares its dividends in US dollars, so the payout keeps pace with the exchange rate rather than shrinking with the naira. The company paid 12 cents a share for the second quarter and plans 45 cents for the full year. On the Heirs stake alone, 12 cents a share works out to about $15 million every quarter.
That is the appeal for anyone holding the stock on the Nigerian Exchange: a naira-priced share with a dollar-linked income.
The catch is that the easy gains may already be taken. The share price has more than doubled this year, and a buyer who is about to chair the board shows conviction, not a floor under the price. A single shareholder with more than a fifth of the company and the chairman's seat also means one voice will weigh heavily on what Seplat does next, from dividends to deals.
The question for every other shareholder is whether Elumelu is paying up because he knows the price is still cheap, or because control is worth more to him than it is to them.
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