Zenith Bank's Jim Ovia Earns N9.57billion From Dividend Payment

- In twelve months, Jim Ovia earned N9.57billion after Zenith Bank announced a dividend payout of N2.70kobo

- The businessman owns 3.54 billion shares in the Nigerian bank, making him the majority shareholder

- This amount is separate from other earnings Ovia will earn from Zenith Bank as the chairman

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Zenith Bank Chairman, Jim Ovia, will earn over N9 billion in dividends this year. This is made possible by the number of shares Ovia holds in the lender, as the single majority shareholder of the bank.

Ovia accounts for 11.29% of the direct shareholding in Zenith Bank, which he headed for 20 years until he resigned in July 2010. Four years later, he was brought out of retirement after his reappointment as chairman in 2014.

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Zenith Bank has 31,396,493,787 ordinary shares, out of which the business mogul owns 3,546,199,395 units. This makes him the majority shareholder above Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the group managing director of the bank.

Considering his 3.54 billion shares and the N2.70kobo proposed by the bank as the final dividend for its shareholders in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Ovia will earn N9.57 billion for the financial year of 2020.

This means in twelve months of last year, the chairman earned N9.57 billion from shares, aside from other payments in Zenith Bank and other businesses he owns. This will make him one of the highest-paid company chairman in 2020.

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Ovia founded Visafone, which was later acquired by MTN Nigeria. In 2015, he was profiled by Forbes to worth at least $550 million. The banker is widely read, with an educational background outside Nigeria.

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He got a degree in Business Administration from Southern University, Louisiana, USA, in 1977, then a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Health Plus has received additional funding from its majority shareholder, Alta Semper. The company is using undisclosed capital to expand its operation in Nigeria.

The investor had previously invested $10 million into the Nigerian medical supplies retailer in 2018. The new funding comes amid an ongoing court case between Alta Semper and the founder of Health Plus, Bukky George.

Fakoyejo Olalekan is a Business and Financial Journalist with over three years of experience in covering finance and business activities within Nigeria and offshore. Prior to joining Legit.ng, he worked at Nairametrics where he wrote financial and investment analysis articles. Olalekan is a resourceful and result-driven journalist with a track record for conducting extensive research and interviews to produce articles that provide different perspectives to market activities.

Source: Legit.ng