eTranzact has a new owner, and it is not a name most investors would recognise. The payments company told the Nigerian Exchange that 5,168,921,170 of its ordinary shares, or 56.18% of the total, have moved to Trademarks Global Concepts Limited. The sellers were Access Bank, Meristem Trustees acting for Accelerex Holdings, and eTranzact Global Limited.
The price was not disclosed. For a rough sense of scale, eTranzact's market value stood at about ₦133.4bn in early August at ₦14.50 a share, which would put a 56.18% block near ₦75bn at that price. Control deals rarely clear at the screen price, so treat that as a yardstick, not a valuation.
Out with the old board
The ownership change came with a clean sweep. Five directors resigned: the three non-executives who represented the exiting shareholders and two independent directors. In come three non-executive directors, Akinwunmi Akinfemiwa, Olatunde Akande and Doron Grupper, plus two independent directors, Omobola Hollist and Mustapha Ajenifuja. Akinfemiwa is the best-known face here, a former chief executive of Forte Oil and of Geregu Power. The company says the Central Bank has cleared the appointments.
For Access Bank, this closes a chapter. The lender built its position over several years, lifting its stake from 23.8% in 2021 to 37.56% by the end of 2022 with a total investment of about ₦12.1bn. It has not said why it is selling.
What the buyer is getting
On the top line, a growing business. Revenue rose 22.6% to ₦16.28bn in the first half of 2026. The trouble sits underneath. Cost of sales jumped about 39% to ₦9.50bn, administrative expenses rose 22% and profit after tax fell 19% to ₦1.22bn. That takes the net margin from about 11.4% a year ago to roughly 7.5%, which means eTranzact is selling more and keeping less of each naira.
Cash looks healthy at ₦23.69bn, but operations swung to an outflow of ₦6.86bn in the half as payments to suppliers and staff roughly doubled. A new controlling shareholder will want to know how much of that is timing and how much is the new normal.
Who Trademarks Global is, what it paid and whether it plans a mandatory offer to minority holders are the questions the next disclosures need to answer.
eTranzact now has a single owner with a fresh board and a business still growing revenue at more than 20%; whether the new team can turn that growth back into profit, and how openly it explains itself to minority shareholders, will decide if this is a turnaround or just a change of names.
Figures are as reported at the time of writing. STATART news is written by Frank Brother (Markets), Christina Amgbari (Insights) and Ebipadei Joseph (Lifestyle), and checked before publication.