Billionaire businessman and chairman of FBN Holdings, Femi Otedola, has reclaimed his status as the majority shareholder of First Bank.
According to corporate filings on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on Thursday, Otedola now holds a 9.41 percent stake in the bank.
This development follows his acquisition of the group’s shares worth N18.9 billion. The filings indicate that Otedola paid N21.91 per share, totaling N6.935 billion for 316,506,776 shares.
Additionally, he purchased 546,674,034 shares through Calvados Global Services Limited, his holding company, at N21.97 per share, amounting to N12.01 billion.
In total, Otedola recently acquired 863,180,810 shares, bringing his total direct and indirect holdings in FBN Holdings to 3,380,462,950 shares, up from 2,517,282,140 shares.
This increase has positioned him as the largest shareholder in the company, surpassing Barbican Capital Limited, owned by Oba Otudeko, which holds 3,110,400,619 direct shares.
Otedola’s move comes after his appointment as the chairman of FBN Holdings’ board of directors in January.
The appointment followed his initial rise to the firm’s largest shareholder in December 2021, when he increased his stake to 7.57 percent.
However, a month after his appointment, Barbican Capital Limited was named the majority shareholder, temporarily placing Otedola as the second major shareholder.
