By Abiola Olawale
Fresh details have emerged that the Chairman of FBN Holdings, Femi Otedola has again jerked up his stake in the company, acquiring a whopping 797,946,415 shares on June 24, 2024.
This was confirmed in a notice signed by the company secretary, Mr Adewale Arogundade, which was posted on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
In the notice, it was confirmed that the business mogul and billionaire acquired about 797,946,415 at N21.58 kobo per share, amounting to N17.2 billion.
The latest development has further cemented Otedola’s position as the single largest shareholder of the financial services giant.
This latest acquisition takes his combined stake to 11.64%, making him the only shareholder of the bank with a total shareholding exceeding 10%.
This also comes just a few days after he acquired N18.9 billion worth of shares, which increased his shareholding to 9.41%.
Otedola now holds a combined 4.178 billion shares of the company’s total outstanding shares of 35.895 billion
Otedola’s pursuit of a majority stake in FBN Holdings began in October 2021 when he announced that he had secured a 5.07% shareholding.
Following this, in December 2021, Otedola increased his stake further to 7.57%, marking a significant leap.
By mid-2022, Otedola reduced his stake to 5.24%, divesting approximately 30% 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, only two shareholders stood out as having over 5% 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 7.01%, up from 5.65% at the end of 2023, officially surpassing Otudeko as the single largest shareholder.
The latest acquisition now gives him a commanding 11.64% majority shareholding of the financial holding company.
