Olayiwola Matthew
Femi Otedola, the chairman of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Holdings and majority shareholder, has increased his stake in the financial company to 13.15 percent.
Otedola increased his stake after purchasing 534,094,407 shares at the cost of N16.02 billion between September 23 and 25.
FBN Holdings notified the capital market in a statement on Thursday.
The acquisition raised his interest in FBN Holdings from 11.67 percent (4,187,602,704 shares) to 13.15 percent (4,721,697,111 shares), worth N136.9 billion as of Wednesday.
It also expands the gap between Otedola and Barbican Capital Limited, FBN Holdings’ second majority investor with an 8.67 percent stake, which represents 3,110,400,619 shares, valued at N90.2 billion as of Wednesday.
Although there is contention over the exact shares Barbican Capital holds in FBN Holdings.
In a lawsuit (no. FHC/L/CS/1172/24) against FBN Holdings, Barbican Capital, owned by Oba Otudeko, claimed that about 5,386,397,202 units of shares representing 15.1 percent of FBN Holdings were acquired over the years and at different times.
Barbican Capital said its shares purchases and dates of issue, were adequately captured by Meristem Registrar and Probate Service Ltd, the financial institution’s appointed registrars, and further acknowledged in the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), which contained its value of shares with the bank.
CSCS is Nigeria’s central securities depository (CSD) licensed to carry on the depository, clearing and settlement of all transactions in the country’s capital market.
In response, FBN Holdings said Barbican Capital only notified the financial institution on July 7, 2023, that about 4,770.269,843 units of shares were acquired.
FBN Holdings told the court that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was only able to verify 3,110,400.619 units of shares out of the 4,770,269,843 shares Barbican Capital claimed it acquired.
The financial institution said CBN’s inability to verify all the shares was due to insufficient documents, as Barbican Capital allegedly refused to submit documents requested by the apex bank for the verification process of the shares acquired.
FBN Holdings said CBN guidelines for ‘Licencing and Regulation of Financial Holding Companies (FHCs) in Nigeria’ — issued pursuant to the Central Bank Act of 2007 and Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act 2004 — mandates financial holding companies to seek approval from the CBN before the purchase of an FHC’s shareholding of 5 percent and above; or if the share units are purchased on the secondary market.
Otedola became the largest shareholder in FBN Holdings in June, a year after he lost the position to Barbican Capital.