Otedola regains top spot as First Bank’s biggest shareholder

Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola, the Chairman of FBN Holdings, has regained his position as the majority shareholder of First Bank.

Otedola now holds a 9.41 per cent stake in the bank after acquiring N18.9 billion worth of the group’s shares on the Nigerian Exchange on June 20.

According to a corporate notice on Thursday, Otedola directly acquired 316,506,776 shares at a share price of N21.91 each, amounting to N6.935 billion.

He then acquired 546,674,034 shares at N21.97 each, amounting to N12.01 billion, through his holding company, Calvados Global Services Limited.

Otedola previously held a 7.01 per cent stake in the bank, behind Oba Otudeko’s Barbican Capital Limited, which holds an 8.67% stake.

With his acquisition of 863,180,810 shares, he increased his total stake in the group to 9.41 per cent.

Otedola’s acquisition accounted for 99 per cent of FBN Holdings’ turnover volume of 871.084 million shares on the NGX.

Femi Otedola, who rejoined the Forbes Billionaires List this year, is now the majority shareholder in two major Nigerian companies, FBN Holdings and Geregu Power Plc.

He also owns the second-largest single individual shareholding for any publicly listed bank, behind Jim Ovia’s 11.29 per cent shareholding of Zenith Bank.

The contest for the majority stake in FBN Holdings dates back to December 2021, when Femi Otedola increased his shareholding from 5.07 per cent to 7.57 per cent.

The contest for the majority stake in FBN Holdings dates back to December 2021, when Femi Otedola increased his shareholding from 5.07% to 7.57%.

Otedola in late 2021 acquired a 7.6 per cent interest in the financial services group. He displaced Tunde Hassan-Odukale to take the lead position but then held a 5.57 per cent stake according to the unaudited report of the lender for the first half of 2023.

Hassan-Odukale interests stood at 4.40 per cent at the end of the same period.

Again, in October 2023, Otedola was listed as the largest shareholder of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc, despite the acquisition of 4.7 billion units of FBNH shares by the former chairman of the group, Oba Otudeko.

This was revealed in the unaudited consolidated financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2023, of the financial institution filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

In February this year, the First Bank of Nigeria Holdings appointed Otedola the new chairman of its board of directors.

Sharing a picture of the announcement on his Instagram page, he wrote, “Interesting”, and added smiley and dollar emojis.”