Femi Otedola
Femi Otedola, a Nigerian billionaire and the chairman of FBN Holdings, has solidified his position as First Bank’s largest shareholder.
Otedola raised his ownership to 9.41% on Thursday, according to corporate documents on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), by acquiring shares for N18.9 billion.
According to the documents, Otedola paid N21.91 per share for 316,506,776 shares, or N6.935 billion, that were directly purchased. Furthermore, he acquired 546,674,034 shares at N21.97 per share via Calvados Global Services Limited, his holding firm, for a total of N12.01 billion.
He purchased 863,180,810 additional shares in total. Through this acquisition, Oba Otudeko’s Barbican Capital Limited, which owns 3.1 billion direct shares (or around 8.67 percent of FBN Holdings), is surpassed by Otedola, whose total shares (direct and indirect) in the company now stand at 3.380 billion.
Otedola is now the biggest shareholder as a result. Otedola, who made a reappearance on the Forbes Billionaires List this year, currently owns sizeable stakes in FBN Holdings and Geregu Power Plc, two prominent Nigerian companies. His individual interest in any publicly traded Nigerian bank is the second greatest; the largest is Jim Ovia’s 11.29 percent stake in Zenith Bank.
Otedola was named by FBN Holdings as the chairman of the board of directors in January. Following his ascent to become the sole largest shareholder in December 2021—when his holding hit 7.57%—he was appointed.