Otudeko-led Honeywell Says Investment in FirstBank to Create Value for Shareholders

*FBN Holdings share price surges

Obinna Chima

The Managing Director of the Honeywell Group, Mr. Obafemi Otudeko, in a letter yesterday, reiterated that Honeywell Group Limited (HGL) and its latest strategic investment in FBN Holdings through its affiliate company, Barbican Capital Limited, was to create value for them.
Otudeko, in the letter addressed to the Chairman, FBN Holdings Plc, obtained by THISDAY, outlined the value the Honeywell Group was bringing to the holdco, outlined its vision and its other investments in other sectors.

The HGL boss is the son of former Chairman of FBN Holdings, Oba Otudeko.
Honeywell Group last Thursday bought 4,770,269,843 FBN Holdings shares in a cross deal worth N87.8 billion. These shares which Otudeko bought at N19 per unit were the largest volume of First Bank shares traded in a single day since 2012, when the stock exchange started publishing data. The acquisitions take his shareholding to 14 percent of the bank’s outstanding market value.

Honeywell had last week disclosed the transaction to the Company Secretary, FBN Holdings Plc in a letter dated July 7, 2023.
However, in another letter yesterday, the company stated: “Further to our letter dated 7th July 2023, addressed to the company secretary, wherein we notified you of the investment in FBN Holdings Plc by our affiliate company Barbican Capital Limited, I would like to take this opportunity to formally (re)introduce our company, our senior management team, and our long-term strategic investment objectives.

“Honeywell Group Limited (HGL) is a dedicated long-term investor committed to investing in great businesses with immense growth potential. Our approach involves working closely with stakeholders with a shared vision to foster the creation and enhancement of value for all. We understand that this requires time and patience. Our intention is to follow this approach in respect of our investment in FBN Holdings, an iconic institution which we greatly respect and with which we have a deep and long-term relationship, as customers, investors, and board members.

“HGL has a deep history of over five decades, building, scaling, and investing in some of Nigeria’s most successful businesses. Key milestone investments include GSM telecommunications, through what is widely known today as Airtel Nigeria, Fan Milk Nigeria Plc, and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading food producing companies, feeding over four million households yearly.

“As Managing Director of HGL, I lead a diverse senior management team with over 150-years combined experience in various professional qualifications and specialties. This international and gender-balanced team comprises over 60 years of active investment banking experience with leading international firms including Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Standard Chartered, Standard Bank and Deutsche Bank, 50 years of Honeywell Group Limited professional accounting experience (including with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Baker Tilly), and 60 years of legal experience (including with Bentley Edu & Co, Aelex, and Banwo and Ighodalo). We bring this breadth and depth of experience to bear in our investment activities.

“To reiterate, our intention is to work with all stakeholders to create value for all shareholders. We enjoy longstanding personal relationships with the company’s other key shareholders, and we look forward to leveraging these relationships as we collectively work towards enhancing the value of FBN Holdings Plc.”
The market capitalisation of FBN Holdings Plc, last week appreciated  by N116.66 billion following the 4,770,269,843 shares bought by a former Chairman of the bank’s board, Oba Otudeko.

The Holdings’ market capitalisation moved to N728.67billion when its stock price closed last Friday, at N20.3 per share from N612 billion, when its stock price was at N17.05 per share the previous week.
The N20.3 per share price of FBN Holdings was the highest so far in 2023 and an all-time high since becoming a Holdings.