TONY Elumelu and Femi Otedola have increased their stake in the shares of Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp), the company informed the investing public on Thursday, April 27.

Elumelu, who is the chairman of Transcorp, has through HH Capital Limited acquired a total of 9,697,189,979 units of the company’s total shares between April 19 and April 25.

The transactions were broken down into 1,843,008,604 units of share at N1.85; 6,552, 167,522 units at N2.45; 16,738,209 units at N2.69; 1,039,399,057 units at N2.95 and 245,876,592 units at various prices.

With this new acquisition, HH Capital Limited now holds a total of 25.58 per cent of the company’s total shares, totalling 9,991,173,177 units.

HH Capital is owned by billionaire investor Tony Elumelu and appears to be an acronym for Heirs Holdings.

“In compliance with Chapter 17, Rule 17.13 of the NGX Issuers Rules, Transnational Corporation Plc (the Company) hereby informs the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and the investing public of the below new acquisition of shares in the Company. With this new acquisition, HH Capital Limited now holds a total of 9,991,173,177 units, representing 25.58% of the Company’s total shares,” Transcorp stated.

Otedola, chairman of Geregu Power Plc, had on April 20 acquired 228,384,959 units of shares, Transcorp announced on Thurday, April 27.

Otedola had earlier acquired 5.52 per cent or 2,245,639,251 units of Transcorp’s shares, a transaction the company confirmed on April 20.

By these official announcements, Otedola’s share acquisition stands at 2,474,024,210 units, representing about 6.08 per cent.

The ICIR had reported that Transcorp shares had jumped significantly in the last two weeks arising from the buy interest of both parties, as well as that of other investors.

A check on trading activity at the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, April 27 showed that the share price of Transcorp closed at N3.12. When compared to the N1.4 it was on April 12, it means that the company’s shares price has jumped by 122.86 per cent in about two weeks.

“I am happy that Transcorp is becoming investors’ toast,” Elumelu said in an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, April 26.

He added, “I welcome Femi Otedola’s investment in Transcorp. I am happy to see an indigenous, active investor community. I am happy that Femi is investing locally and he should be commended for that. I also welcome his investment in Transcorp because the more people show interest in the activities and performance of the company, the more people invest in the company, the better for our shareholders.”

He noted that about 10 years ago before his leadership took over Transcorp, people were not interested in the company’s shares.

“When I wanted to buy over Transcorp, people who owned shares of Transcorp couldn’t even find their certificates because they lost confidence in the company. Today, under our leadership, Transcorp has consistently paid dividends.

“So, when friends and the investing public come to invest in it is a validation. It tells you that they believe in your story, vision, management, leadership, competence. That is what I have demonstrated and I would like my friend to come on board,” Elumelu said.

According to him, Transcorp has over 300,000 shareholders, enthusing that five per cent, six per cent or 20 per cent investments in Trancorp were all add-ups.

“What is important is that we have a strong leadership, a strong board and we continue to deliver on shareholders’ expectation or public expectation,” he said.