The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has queried the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the sale of 10.43 billion shares in First HoldCo Plc, amid confusion about the identity of the buyer, RC Investment Management Limited.
On July 16, Oba Otudeko, chairman of Honeywell Group, and Tunde Hassan-Odukale, group managing director of Leadway Assurance, offloaded over 10 billion First HoldCo shares traded in series of deals at a negotiated price of N31 per share
Otudeko had held his shares through Barbican Capital Limited (5,875,980,151 shares), Peace Account GASL Nominee (1,517,746,454 shares), and RAML/MEF9 (392,914,895 shares).
Also, Hassan-Odukale sold his shares through Leadway Holdings Limited (1,036,914,805 shares), Leadway Assurance Co. Ltd (432,258,388 shares), UBAPC/Leadway Pensure PFA Ltd-T (392,345,513 shares), amongst many others.
Some media platforms linked the acquisition to Femi Otedola, chairman of First HoldCo, and the federal government — a claim the financial institution denied.
However, Bloomberg in a report on Tuesday, said Barbican Capital Ltd.— a vehicle linked to Otudeko and Foluke Oyeleye, a businesswoman — sold about 25 percent of First HoldCo.
With the identity of the beneficial owner undisclosed, the publication said SEC, in an emailed response, said it is seeking further clarification on the deal from the CBN.
Speaking on the transaction, Kato Mukuru, founding partner at London-based Emerging & Frontier Capital LLP, told the media firm that such a transaction “must have been endorsed by the Central Bank of Nigeria”.
“If that is the case, why have minority investors not been told who the beneficial owner of this controlling stake is?” Mukuru said.
Mukuru also said the market “needs to know what this means for the bank’s future strategic direction and its capital structure”.
On July 21, THISDAY/ARISE Media Groups said the off-market sale of 10.4 billion shares valued at N324.47 billion on July 16 violated Nigerian laws and regulations.
