The Chairman of First Bank Holdings Plc, Femi Otedola, has acquired an additional 534,094,407 million shares of First Bank Holdings Plc. The shares were acquired between September 23-25, 2024, according to a regulatory filing shared by FBNH on today. Details of the transaction with identification code: ISIN: NGFBNH000009 was acquired by the billionaire at N30 per share. 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.This development is coming over a month after FBNH confirmed that it is in court with Oba Otudeko’s Barbican Capital Limited after Barbican received notification that showed that FBN Holdings sought to reduce its 5,386,397,202 total shareholding in the bank by 40 per cent. The misunderstanding began when FBN Holdings in its December 2023 audited accounts released in May, 2024 slashed Barbican’s shareholding in the bank to 3.1 billion (3,110,400,619) or 8.67 per cent of the lender’s total shares from the earlier reported 4.8 billion (4,886,062,743).
Prior to the report, Barbican controlled 13.61 per cent of the shares based on the December 2023 unaudited accounts released in February. FBNH attached to the audited accounts a note that said the 3.1 billion shares represent the total that had been “verified” by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
But aggrieved Barbican Capital filed a lawsuit against FBN Holdings, and attached a statement from the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) as evidence of its total shares ownership.
Based on the Barbican statement from CSCS as of May 23, 2024, the company owned 5,386,397,202 shares (15.01 per cent) while It held 4.8 billion (4,886,062,743) shares or 13.61 percent as at December 2023.
Otedola became the largest shareholder in FBN Holdings in June, a year after he lost the position to Otudeko’s Barbican Capital.