Billionare businessman Femi Otedola has regained the position of majority shareholder of First Bank after acquiring N18.9 billion worth of the group’s shares on the Nigerian Exchange on Thursday.
The latest acquisition brings the chairman of FBN Holdings’ stake in the bank to 9.41 per cent.
Otedola directly acquired 316,506,776 shares at a share price of N21.91 each, amounting to N6.935 billion, according to a corporate notice.
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.
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 Otedola increased his shareholding from 5.07 per cent to 7.57 per cent.
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