Tony Elumelu’s $500 million Seplat stake now worth over $1 billion

Seplat Energy Plc, Nigeria’s leading indigenous energy company, has seen its market capitalisation climb to $5.24 billion, as the equity stake held by Heirs Holdings; the investment vehicle of Nigerian billionaire and Africapitalism champion Tony Elumelu, crosses the $1 billion mark.

Heirs Holdings became Seplat’s largest shareholder in December 2025, acquiring a 20.07% stake (120.4 million shares) from French energy group Maurel & Prom for approximately $500 million.

At Seplat’s current share price of N11,200.60 on the NGX and £6.47 on the LSE, the stake is now valued at about $1 billion, more than double the value of the original investment in under eight months.

Big bet paying off

When Heirs Group acquired its 20.07% stake in Seplat at the end of December 2025, the deal immediately became more than a change in shareholding.

The $500 million investment represented a major bet on the future of a company that had just completed one of the biggest transactions in Nigeria’s energy sector; the acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU).

Within the first trading week of 2026, Seplat’s share price rose 6.2% to a new 52-week high.

The market appeared to view the Heirs transaction as a long-term endorsement of Seplat’s strategy and enlarged asset base, while the key question was whether the rally would ultimately be supported by the company’s fundamentals.

That question was soon followed by further gains, as the rally gathered momentum over the following months.

• From N5,809 at the end of 2025, Seplat moved above N9,000 by March. By April, it became the first stock on the Nigerian Exchange to cross the N10,000-per-share mark, closing at N10,450 on April 14 with a year-to-date gain of almost 80%.
• Seplat has since traded above N11,000 and has retained most of those gains. From its N5,809 starting price, the stock is up more than 90% in 2026.
• For Heirs, that rise has transformed the value of its investment. The 120.4 million shares bought for approximately $500 million are now valued at more than $1 billion based on the market prices referenced by the company.

In less than eight months, the investment has therefore crossed an important milestone. But the Seplat story since the acquisition has also become much bigger than its share price.

Earnings support the rerating

The stronger case for Seplat’s valuation is what has happened to the underlying business.

• The MPNU acquisition effectively transformed Seplat from a largely onshore producer into a much larger energy company with significant offshore operations.
• The first full year of that enlarged business was reflected in its 2025 results. Revenue jumped 144% to $2.73 billion, while adjusted EBITDA increased 137% to $1.28 billion. Operating cash flow also rose 276% to $1.17 billion, while net debt declined 25% to $673.3 million.
• Seplat also increased its total dividend for 2025 by 52% to 25 cents per share.

That momentum continued into 2026. In the first half of the year, Seplat generated N2.50 trillion in revenue, but the more important development was how much more profitable that revenue became.

Profit before tax increased 74% to N790.4 billion, while profit after tax rose from N42.5 billion a year earlier to N225.5 billion.

The company was also able to grow earnings while strengthening 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.

In simple terms, Seplat entered the year as a much larger company following the MPNU acquisition and has spent the first half demonstrating that the larger asset base can translate into stronger earnings and lower leverage.

MPNU expands Seplat’s production base

The change in Seplat’s scale is also visible in its production numbers. Average working-interest production reached 139,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day in H1 2026, compared with 134,492 boepd a year earlier.

• Offshore assets contributed more than half of total production, while natural gas liquids production more than doubled to 8,459 barrels per day.
• The significance is not simply that Seplat is producing more. It now has more sources of production and earnings than it did before the MPNU transaction.

This was already visible in 2025 when average production jumped to 131,506 boepd from 52,947 boepd in 2024 following the first full year of offshore consolidation.

What you should know

Tony Elumelu’s increasing role in the company adds another dimension to that outlook. Having joined the board in January 2026, he is expected to become Chairman from January 1, 2027. This means Seplat’s largest shareholder will also have a more direct role in the company’s long-term direction.

That alignment between ownership and leadership could strengthen the market’s confidence in the next phase of Seplat’s growth, particularly given Elumelu’s track record of long-term investments in businesses such as UBA and Transcorp.

But ultimately, the value of the Heirs investment will continue to depend on Seplat’s ability to deliver production, manage costs and convert its enlarged asset base into sustainable shareholder returns.

For now, the movement from a roughly $500 million investment to a stake worth more than $1 billion provides a clear measure of how quickly market expectations around Seplat have changed.

More importantly, the company’s improving earnings and financial position suggest that the rerating is increasingly being backed by the business itself. (Nairametrics)