Nigerian Businessman Adebisi Adebutu takes 86% of Chappal after $100 million rescue

Adebisi Adebutu, the Nigerian businessman who heads investment group R28 Holdings, has taken 86% ownership of Chappal Energies, the Mauritius-registered oil company that bought Equinor out of Nigeria, following a $100 million refinancing and months of boardroom conflict. R28, previously a minority shareholder, brought in the money to stabilise a company that had run into mounting difficulty, launching a $100 million rights issue described as emergency capital to prevent bankruptcy.

Chappal was founded in 2020 by Ufoma Joseph Immanuel. In December 2024 it completed a $1.2 billion acquisition of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company, ending the Norwegian group’s 32 years in the country, having months earlier agreed to buy TotalEnergies’ Nigerian assets for $860 million, and in December 2025 it closed $430 million of oil financing. The acquisitions were followed by strain.

Immanuel was suspended by the board after being placed under investigation by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the State Security Service, and has been in detention for around four months. No charges against him have been made public and no wrongdoing has been established.

The EFCC petition came from Adebutu’s vehicle over a disagreement about ownership and control of shares in entities connected to Chappal. Immanuel’s family has petitioned President Bola Tinubu, alleging he was handcuffed to a bed at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and unable to move despite medical advice that he walk to prevent blood clots, with civil society groups calling the treatment inhuman and degrading. Those allegations have not been independently verified. Adebutu is the third son of Chief Kessington Adebutu, the businessman behind Premier Lotto, and studied at Swansea University and INSEAD. (Billionaires Africa)