May 27, (THEWILL) -Data from the 2021 FY Report of the FBNH Plc has confirmed that billionaire investor and chairman of Geregu Power Plant, Femi Otedola is officially the majority shareholder of FBN Holdings.
The audited financial statements of the bank for the year ended December 31, 2021 shows he owns 2,717,282,140 shares or 7.57 percent of the bank making him the single largest shareholder with more than 5% ownership of the bank.
The bank’s 2022 first-quarter result which was released during the week also confirmed ownership of 2,717,282,140 shares or 7.57 percent of the bank’s total shares of 35,895,292,791. The disclosure in the audited accounts clarifies a protracted shareholder squabble that put into question who the majority owner of one of the most systemic important financial institutions in Nigeria is.
The majority ownership of FBN Holdings had been a matter of contention since the billionaire investor announced he had taken a majority stake in the bank.
This triggered the intervention of Pencom, the Pension Fund regulator, and the Nigerian Exchange, the operators of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The audited account of any company is viewed as the official source of information about the company making it the single source of truth for company corporate disclosures pertaining to results, shareholder information, and general company information.
At 7.57%, Mr. Otedola becomes the single largest shareholder of the bank.
The next largest shareholder of the bank as disclosed in the financial statement is Mr. Tunde Hassan Odukale with 4.31% direct and indirect ownership combined.
Recent reports have revealed that Mr. Hassan Odukale acquired 1,546,289,714 units between March 2021 and March 2022 as the jostle for majority ownership emerged.
Leadway Pension also added another 133,868,296 shares taking its ownership of the company to 1.01% from 0.64 percent.
However, Mr. Otedola’s acquisition of about 2.7 billion shares remains the largest single indirect and direct shares owned by a shareholder of the bank.
FBN Holdings has about 31,250,501,802 or 87.06 percent of its shares floating down from 94.95% of shares floating.
It could be recalled that Mr. Otedola acquired over 5% of the bank after acquiring shares of the bank over a protracted period.
In a letter dated October 23rd, 2021 the bank confirmed Mr. Otedola Olufemi Peter and his nominee, Calvados Global Services Limited had acquired a total of 1,818,551,625 units of shares from the Company’s issued share capital of 35,895,292,791.
A few days after, Mr. Femi Otedola announced an increase in his shareholdings of FBN Holdings, (First Bank’s parent company) to 7.57 percent.
This was disclosed in a letter to the bank by Mr. Otedola dated December 9, 2021. The disclosure officially made him the single largest majority shareholder of the bank at least according to the public disclosure of ownership that has now been made.
With the audited accounts now published, it is officially clear that Mr. Femi Otedola is the single largest shareholder of FBN Holdings as of March 31st, 2022.
First Bank is one of Nigeria’s first generation financial service institutions with the largest number of branches.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
