Fear Reigns Among First Bank Shareholders as Otedola Offloads 834 Million Shares

• There are palpable fears in Nigeria's oldest bank, First Bank as its largest shareholder, Femi Otedola sells about 834 million shares
• The shares are part of insider dealings which the billionaire and his entities offloaded, consequently reducing his stake in the bank
• Shareholders are worried that the billionaire may be exiting the company having sold about 2.7 per cent of stakes in the company

FBN Holding’s largest shareholder, Femi Otedola has announced that he has sold about 823 million shares of the holding company valued at N9.28 billion.

Nairametrics report says that the company said the transactions were part of insider dealing notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange which is a mandatory filing that is required to be disclosed when an important shareholder is selling shares.

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Going by the series of filings posted on the Nigerian Exchange’s website, the billionaire and his other entities sold about N834.934,939,764 units of shares which represents about 30 per cent of his shares in the company.

Otedola's shares reduces

This has decreased his shareholding from 7.57 per cent to 5.24 per cent, meaning that 2.3 per cent of the bank’s shares have been sold within 3 days.

There was a protracted boardroom brawl over who is the largest shareholder in the company. This led the bank to issue a release which forced the Nigerian Stock Exchange to intervene and clarify the issues. The audited report of the bank put Otedola as the biggest shareholder of the company, stating that he owns 7.57 per cent of the bank.

Fear, mixed reactions trail sale of shares

The latest sales of the shares have thrown shareholders into panic as they wonder why Otedola is offloading the shares, spreading fears he may be exiting the bank.

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There are mixed reactions about the potential exit of Otedola which experts say may have either a positive or negative impact on the bank.

First Bank confirms Femi Otedola as single largest shareholder, as he makes over N543m in 8 hours

Recall Legit.ng reported that First Bank of Nigeria Holdings (FBN) has confirmed Femi Otedola has its largest single shareholder.

It revealed this in its full year result which was submitted to the Nigerian Exchange on Tuesday, 25 May 2022.

According to the report, FBN report Otedola has a direct holding of 0.58% direct stake and 6.98% indirect stake.

Source: Legit.ng