By Ojima-Ojo Abubakar
The chairman of top-tier banking group FBN Holdings, Femi Otedola, has purchased 534.1 million shares in recent deals in the Lagos-quoted financial institution.
A regulatory filing from FBN Holdings, whose principal operating company, First Bank, is Nigeria’s oldest commercial lender, indicated the multi-sector investor acquired the shares in separate transactions within 23 and 25 September at a cost averaging N30 per unit.
Mr Otedola is the corporation’s top shareholder, at the same time the holder of the controlling interest of Geregu Power, an electricity-generating public company backed by Kigali-based Fund for Export Development in Africa.
The transactions put Mr Otedola’s latest spending on additional stakes in the group at over N16 billion.
However, the data provided on the website of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), where the financial services group’s shares are listed, shows the shares traded by FBN Holdings in the three days the transactions were said to have been conducted totalled 144.3 million.
That is far less than the 534.1 million units the businessman acquired during the period, suggesting a gap in the records kept by the NGX.
The NGX did not immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES enquiry seeking clarification on the discrepancy.
The billionaire magnate has actively been in the hunt in the market this year for new shares to firm up his status as the corporation’s prime shareholder after toppling its closest contender Barbican Capital Limited in June. Barbican Capital has FBN Holdings Ex-chairman Oba Otudeko as its beneficial owner.
Spending on 1.67 billion units in new shares earlier in the year came to N36.2 billion taking his stake in the holding company to 11.6 per cent. With his latest acquisition of shares, Mr Otedola’s holdings now stand at 13.16 per cent.
FBN Holdings shares have added 25.3 per cent this year, outpacing the NGX Banking Index, the industry index that monitors the progress of the performance of the most capitalised and liquid stocks in the banking sector, which has advanced 4.5 per cent so far.
FBN Holdings profit for the first half of the year roughly doubled to N360.3 billion, helped by a major boost to the interest charged on loans.
Total assets for the period jumped 38.3 per cent to N23.4 trillion, compared to the end of last year, according to its latest earnings report.
