The erstwhile Chairman of Forte Oil Plc, Femi Otedola has acquired majority shares of the Bank, according to multiple reports over the weekend.
The billionaire business mogul reportedly bought shares worth N30bn making him the bank’s largest single shareholder.
However, First Bank Holdings, owners of First Bank of Nigeria, Friday denied knowledge of a takeover of the company by Otedola.
The company did not deny the possibility of an acquisition; it said the firm had not received a notification of a significant holding by Mr Otedola, Premium Times reported.
“As a listed company, the shares of FBN Holding Plc are publicly traded, and sale and acquisition of shares is expected in the normal course of business. We operate in a regulated environment, which requires notification of significant shareholding by Shareholders to the company, where shares are held in different vehicles, further to which the company will notify the regulators and the public as appropriate,” Premium Times reported, quoting a notice by the firm to the NGX exchange on Friday.
Otedola according to sources with knowledge of the transaction took over FBN Holdings with an acquisition of about N30bn worth of shares, making him the single largest shareholder of the bank.
Consequently, Otedola, being the largest shareholder, holds the highest voting shares, giving him power to dictate the direction of the bank through his voting power. The battle for the control of Nigeria’s oldest lender, among two power blocs dominated by key shareholders with interests in its ownership, was at the heart of the recent shake-up of the bank’s board. One of the blocks is led by Nigeria’s second richest man, Mike Adenuga, according to reports.
The Central Bank of Nigeria had in April this year, dismissed the boards of the bank and its holding company, FBN Holdings, a day after the bank appointed a new managing director. The apex regulator reinstated the former Managing Director of the bank, Adesola Adeduntan.
The CBN admitted that First Bank, which has over 31 million customers with a deposit base of N4.2trn, shareholders’ funds of N618bn, has for years been plagued by “bad credit decisions, significant and non-performing insider loans and poor corporate governance practices”. It was learnt that a key reason for the crisis is the tussle for control of the bank between a block led by Oba Otudeko, who until recently was the chairman of FBN Holdings’ board, and Adenuga, who recently emerged as one of the biggest shareholders in the bank. While Otudeko and Ibukun Awosika, his ally on the board of FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, were removed from their positions as chairmen of FBN Holdings and FirstBank respectively, Adeduntan, who represented the interest of a late Ibadan mogul and prominent shareholder, Arisekola Alao, was reinstated as the bank’s chief executive.