By Chukwuma Umeorah
Nigerian billionaire and Chairman of FBN Holdings, Femi Otedola, has re-established himself as the leading shareholder of First Bank.
Corporate filings on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) disclosed on Thursday that Otedola has increased his stake to 9.41 per cent by purchasing shares worth N18.9 billion.
The filings indicate that Otedola directly acquired 316,506,776 shares at N21.91 per share, totaling N6.935 billion. Additionally, he secured 546,674,034 shares through his holding company, Calvados Global Services Limited, at N21.97 per share, amounting to N12.01 billion.
In total, he acquired 863,180,810 new shares. This acquisition boosts Otedola’s total (both direct and indirect) shares in FBN Holdings from 2.517 billion shares to 3.380 billion shares, surpassing Barbican Capital Limited, owned by Oba Otudeko, which holds 3.1 billion direct shares (about 8.67 per cent stake). This makes Otedola the largest shareholder.
Otedola, who reappeared on the Forbes Billionaires List this year, now holds significant shares in two major Nigerian entities: FBN Holdings and Geregu Power Plc. He possesses the second-largest individual shareholding in any publicly listed Nigerian bank, second only to Jim Ovia’s 11.29 per cent stake in Zenith Bank.
In January, FBN Holdings appointed Otedola as the chairman of its board of directors. This appointment followed his rise to become the single largest shareholder in December 2021, when his stake reached 7.57 per cent.
