Otedola acquires more FBN Holding shares

Billionaire businessman and chairman of FBN Holdings, Femi Otedola, has once again increased his shareholding stake in the company, thereby further cementing his position as the single largest shareholder of the financial services giant.

   In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), the billionaire who is also controls the majority shareholding of Geregu Power Plc, confirmed that he had acquired an additional 797,946,415 shares of FBN Holding at an average price of N21.58. The transaction value of the new acquisition amounts to a staggering N17.2 billion.

   The latest acquisition increased his combined stake to 11.64 percent, making him the only shareholder of the bank with a total shareholding exceeding 10 percent.

  Last week, the billionaire had acquired N18.9billion worth of shares, which increased his shareholding to 9.41 percent. The latest acquisition brings his total share value to N36.1billion in a matter of days. With the development, Otedola now holds a combined 4.178 billion shares of the company’s total outstanding shares of 35.895 billion

  Checks revealed that Forbes listed billionaire, has invested an estimated N102 billion since he began acquiring FBN Holdings shares three years ago, beginning in October 2021, when he first announced that he had secured a 5.07 percent shareholding.

    Following this, in December 2021, Otedola increased his stake further by 2.50 percent bringing it to 7.57 percent, thus marking a significant leap. By mid-2022, he reduced his stake to 5.24 percent, divesting approximately 30 percent of his shareholding in the group. However, he began 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), only two shareholders stood out as having over five percent of FBN Holdings shares –

Oba Otudeko’s Barbican Capital and Otedola.

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

   With the latest development, he is now in effective control of the bank following months of internal shareholder positioning. The bank now has a new GMD/CEO and a reconstituted board with him as Chairman.

   Otedola’s foray into the financial services space now makes him the only Nigerian billionaire (in dollars) to own a majority stake in a commercial bank in the country. He is also one of the single largest shareholders of any financial services company in Nigeria.

   His entire investment amounts to around 13 percent with a market capitalization value of N759 billion of the financial holding company. FBN Holdings hit an all-time high of one trillion in market capitalisation earlier in the year as its share price surged in a bull market.

  Meanwhile, he bank is also expected to announce its rights issue or public offer as it bids to attain the estimated N248.7 billion needed to meet its N500 billion minimum ordinary share capital requirement. A likely rights issue could see the billionaire continue to increase his stake in the bank.