First Bank: Otedola Shakes Nigeria’s Oldest Bank After Selling N9bn Shares

By Tosin Olatokunbo

First Bank shares price plunges on Wednesday following the decision of business mogul’s Femi Otedola to offload a huge chunk of his shares from Nigeria’s oldest bank.

From N13 per share, the share price of the premier bank in the country fell to N10.99 as fears loomed in the sector that panicky investors could respond negatively to the situation. As a result of what is going on, investors of the bank have already lost close to N13 billion.

First Bank Holdings Plc, the owner of First Bank announced on Tuesday that Otedola has sold more than 800 million shares valued at over N9billion he owns in the bank.

The development came barely few months after the businessman purchased over seven per cent of the total shares of the bank, thus setting off an ownership tussle with the former majority shareholder Hassan Odukale, the chairman of the Holding company.

The ownership tussle was finally settled by the bank after it announced, earlier this year that Otedola has become the largest single shareholder after upstaging Odukale who owns less shares.

According to checks from the Nigerian Exchange, NGX Otedola and his other entities sold about 834,939,764.00 units representing about 30 per cent of his shareholdings in the bank holding company.

The sale, the Exchange said has also reduced Otedola shares from about 7.5 per cent to about 5.24 per cent, indicating that the business man has offloaded 2.3 per cents within 72 hours.

Those watching what is going informed the magazine that Otedola may have made a u-turn in his earlier quest to become one of the biggest investors in the banking sector in the country. Others said he may not be unhappy with the fact that he has not been allowed to take full control after acquiring the largest stocks in the bank

Recall that Otedola had denied allegation that he was planning to take over the board of the bank. Critics had claimed that that is the reason why he acquired a large chunk of the bank’s  stocks within a short period. Otedola responded to the suggestions:

“I am simply an investor who saw an opportunity in the financial institution and decided to take advantage of it through the investment I have made. My interest, contrary to speculations is not to become chairman of the bank or its Holdco. Moreover, I am in semi-retirement. Being the single largest shareholder doesn’t mean I must necessarily hold a position in the bank. I believe in allowing competent people run institutions in a professional manner and to the benefit of all the stakeholders,” he said.

Until recently, Otedola has pumped over N45 billion  to attain this dominant position in the bank.