Jim Ovia, the billionaire founder of Nigeria’s largest bank by market value, has made an unexpected full-time pivot to real estate, betting that luxury residential real estate in Lagos will yield higher returns than commercial lending.
Ovia, who concluded a 12-year tenure as chairman of Zenith Bank Plc on May 5, is deploying capital into the premium residential sector through Quantum Luxury Properties Ltd. His much-talked-about project, the 26-floor Metropolitan Towers on the Lagos Lagoon, features unit prices starting at $1.85 million. A sister development, the 44-unit Quantum Luxury Towers, prices apartments from $2.8 million, targeting high-net-worth individuals (HNIs).
Both developments, which are selling fast according to Ovia, are located strategically where he constructed Civic Towers and Civic Centre, where events are held.
Ovia is part of a broader trend of non-traditional developers aggressively building across commercial and residential hubs in Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Tony Elumelu has been in the
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