The Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu’s investment in Seplat Energy Plc has crossed the $1 billion mark in market value, less than eight months after his investment vehicle, Heirs Holdings, acquired a 20.07 percent stake in the Nigerian energy company for approximately $500 million.
The sharp appreciation in the value of the holding follows a strong rally in Seplat’s shares on both the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and London Stock Exchange (LSE), which has lifted the company’s market capitalisation to about $5.24 billion.
Heirs Holdings acquired 120.4 million Seplat shares from French energy company Maurel and Prom in December 2025, becoming the company’s largest shareholder.
Based on Seplat’s referenced share prices of N11,200.60 on the NGX and £6.47 on the LSE, the 120.4 million-share holding is now valued at approximately $1 billion, more than twice the original investment.
The gain underscores the scale of Seplat’s market rerating since the transaction and represents one of the more notable appreciation stories among major Nigerian-listed companies in 2026.
Seplat entered 2026 at N5,809 per share but quickly began a sustained rally after the Heirs Holdings transaction.
Within the first trading week of the year, the stock gained 6.2 per cent and reached a new 52-week high.
By March, the share price had moved above N9,000, before crossing the N10,000 threshold in April.
Seplat became the first stock listed on the Nigerian Exchange to trade above N10,000 per share, closing at N10,450 on April 14 and recording a year-to-date gain of almost 80 percent at the time.
The stock has since moved above N11,000, putting its 2026 gain at more than 90 percent from its year-end 2025 level.
For Heirs Holdings, the sustained appreciation has effectively transformed the $500 million acquisition into a holding worth about $1 billion at the referenced market prices.
The rise in Seplat’s share price has coincided with a significant expansion in the company’s underlying business following its acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU).
The transaction transformed Seplat’s production scale and significantly expanded its offshore portfolio.
The impact was evident in the company’s 2025 financial performance, its first full year reflecting the enlarged asset base.
Revenue increased 144 percent to $2.73 billion, while adjusted EBITDA rose 137 percent to $1.28 billion.
Operating cash flow increased 276 percent to $1.17 billion, while net debt declined 25 percent to $673.3 million.
Seplat also increased its total dividend for 2025 by 52 percent to 25 cents per share.
The company’s 2026 performance has further strengthened the case for the market’s rerating.
In the first half of 2026, Seplat generated N2.50 trillion in revenue, while profit before tax rose 74 percent to N790.4 billion.
Profit after tax increased sharply from N42.5 billion in the corresponding period of 2025 to N225.5 billion.
The company also continued to strengthen its balance sheet.
Interest-bearing borrowings declined from about N1.44 trillion at the end of 2025 to N1.11 trillion by June, while cash increased to N598.3 billion.
The combination of higher earnings, stronger cash generation and lower leverage has provided additional support for the market’s more bullish assessment of the company.
Seplat’s enlarged asset portfolio has also translated into higher production.
Average working-interest production reached 139,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the first half of 2026, compared with 134,492 boepd a year earlier.
Offshore assets accounted for more than half of total production, while natural gas liquids production more than doubled to 8,459 barrels per day.
The change represents a significant shift in the company’s production profile.
In 2025, average production had already risen to 131,506 boepd from 52,947 boepd in 2024 following the first full year of offshore consolidation after the MPNU acquisition.
The enlarged production base has therefore given Seplat greater diversification across assets and revenue streams than it had before the transaction.
Elumelu’s increasing involvement in Seplat adds another dimension to the investment.
After joining the company’s board in January 2026, he is expected to become chairman from January 1, 2027.
That would place Seplat’s largest shareholder in a more direct leadership position as the company seeks to consolidate the gains from the MPNU acquisition and pursue further growth.
The development also deepens Elumelu’s involvement in the Nigerian energy industry, alongside his interests across banking, power and other sectors through his investment holdings.
However, the sustained value of the Heirs Holdings investment will ultimately depend on Seplat’s ability to maintain production growth, manage costs, generate cash and translate its enlarged asset base into sustainable shareholder returns.
For now, the movement from an approximately $500 million investment to a stake worth around $1 billion highlights the scale of the market’s reassessment of Seplat since the MPNU acquisition.
More importantly, the company’s stronger earnings, higher production and improving balance sheet suggest that the share-price rerating is increasingly being supported by improvements in the underlying business rather than market sentiment alone.