Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Energies has acquired a 20% equity stake in Seplat Energy from French energy firm Maurel & Prom in a transaction valued at around $500 million, making Heirs Energies the company’s single largest shareholder.
The move represents one of the largest locally driven investments in Africa’s oil and gas sector in recent years.
The acquisition was supported by two major African financial institutions, Afreximbank and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
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Heirs Energies recently secured a $750 million financing facility from Afreximbank, further enhancing its capacity to execute large-scale transactions across the oil and gas value chain.
Production boost
Seplat Energy, with a market capitalisation of N3.2 trillion ($2.2 billion), operates primarily in Nigeria’s Niger Delta and is listed on both the Nigerian Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
The company currently produces about 286,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd), while Heirs Energies contributes roughly 70 kboepd.
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Combined, the two firms now have a daily production capacity of approximately 356 kboepd, including 266,000 barrels of oil per day (kbopd) and 490 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd).
The deal also strengthens Tony Elumelu’s footprint across Nigeria’s energy sector. His power generation companies, Transcorp Power in Delta State and TransAfam Power in Rivers State, together supply approximately 17% of Nigeria’s electricity.
