Femi Otedola has bought a London mansion for £53 million, with the purchase of the 10-bedroom property in St John’s Wood completed late last year, according to a UK filing. reported the deal on Thursday.
The home sits in one of London’s best-known high-end districts, near Regent’s Park, and was built in 2016. The property reportedly includes a cinema, a spa and a cigar room, placing it squarely in the bracket of homes designed for ultra-wealthy buyers who want scale as much as privacy.
The purchase adds another eye-catching transaction to London’s prime residential market, which continues to draw global money even as higher property taxes and changes to tax incentives for foreign residents have made the market more expensive and less straightforward than it was before.
The mansion had previously been listed for £75 million in 2020, underscoring how sharply prestige homes can be repriced before a deal closes. For Otedola, the purchase extends the profile of a businessman whose interests already span energy, finance, shipping and insurance brokerage through First HoldCo Plc, where he is chairman and majority shareholder.
First HoldCo is one of Nigeria’s largest financial services groups and has backing behind it from assets and holdings that have made Otedola one of the country’s most visible corporate figures. The acquisition also lands at a moment when London’s top-end property market is still absorbing buyers willing to pay for trophy homes, even with the tax burden now heavier than in past years.
The sharp question is not whether the market still moves at the top end; it does. It is how long the city can keep attracting that level of overseas wealth while the cost of owning there keeps rising. For now, the answer is written into deals like this one.
