Otedola sells 834 million units of his FBN Holdings shares

Femi Otedola, a Nigerian billionaire, has sold 30% of his stake in FBN Holdings.

The sold shares comprise around 834 million units of his stock.

The most recent development has caused shares of FBN holdings to fall in the previous 72 hours.

The trades were disclosed in the company’s insider dealing statement to the Nigerian exchange.

FBN Holdings said Otedola sold about 834,939,764.00 units representing about 30% of his shareholdings in the bank holding company.

According to filings posted on the Nigerian Exchange’s website, Otedola sold 200,000,000 units at N11.10 on June 6.

The company said Otedola sold other shares on the same day via entities related to him, including 170,000,000 units at N11.14 via Primrose Global Concept, 53,000,000 units at N11.10 via Impetus Synergy; 120,000,000 units at N11.10 via Wells Properties & Investment Company Limited and 174,939,764 units at N11.14 via Shetland Global.

It is understood that the deal is valued at about FBN Holdings’ share price which has traded within N11-N12 since Otedola became the majority shareholder, fell by 3.11% on Wednesday, dropping to N10.9 at the close of business.

According to Daily Trust, the transaction which the billionaire did through one of his stockbrokers, Cardinal Stone Securities has reduced his shareholding from about 7.57% to about 5.24%.

The newspaper reported that the shares were sold to a foreign buyer, thereby, ruling out insinuations that it was bought by another major shareholder.

Recall that the audited accounts of First bank for the year ended December 2021 confirmed Otedola as the single largest shareholder, owning 2,717,282,140 shares or 7.57% of the bank.

The disclosure in the audited accounts clarifies a protracted shareholder squabble over who was the majority owner of the financial institution.