Otedola Acquires Additional N17.2bn Worth of FBN Holdings’ Shares, Now Holds 11.64% Stake

Kayode Tokede 

The Chairman of FBN Holdings Plc, Mr. Olufemi Otedola, has purchased an estimated N17.2billion worth of shares in the holding company to further cement his position as the single largest shareholder of the financial institution.

In a notice signed by the company secretary, Mr. Adewale Arogundade, which was posted on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), about 797,946,415 at N21.58 kobo per share was purchased by the billionaire investor on June 24, 2024.

The transaction value of the new acquisition amounted to a staggering N17.2 billion.

The current price of FBN Holdings closed on June 24, 2024, at N20.00 per share on the floor of NGX from the N21.15 per share it opened for trading.

FBN Holdings’ total volume traded on the Exchange stood at 627,604,418. The latest acquisition takes his combined stake to 11.64 per cent, making him the only shareholder of the bank with a total shareholding exceeding 10 per cent.

The billionaire had acquired N18.9 billion worth of shares, which had increased his shareholding to 9.41per cent. The latest acquisition brings the total to N36.1 billion in a matter of days.

He now holds a combined 4.178 billion shares of the company’s total outstanding shares of 35.895 billion.

Otedola, one of the only four Nigerian billionaires listed by Forbes, has invested an estimated N102 billion since he began acquiring FBN Holdings shares three years ago.

The pursuit of a majority stake in FBN Holdings has been a dynamic journey, beginning in October 2021 when Femi Otedola first announced that he had secured a 5.07per cent shareholding.

Following this, in December 2021, Otedola increased his stake further to 7.57per cent, marking a significant leap.

By mid-2022, Otedola reduced his stake to 5.24per cent, divesting approximately 30per cent of his shareholding in the group. However, he started acquiring shares in the bank again in 2023 as controversy over who owned the majority stake in the bank remained.

After a review and confirmation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) then, only two shareholders stood out as having over five per cent of FBN Holdings shares: Oba Otudeko’s Barbican Capital and Femi Otedola.

At the end of the first quarter of 2024, Otedola’s shareholding in the bank was confirmed at 7.01per cent, up from 5.65per cent at the end of 2023, officially surpassing Otudeko as the single largest shareholder.

The latest acquisition now gives him a commanding 11.64per cent majority shareholding of the financial holding company.