Contrary to earlier report suggesting that Mr. Femi Otedola, had increased his shares stake in First Holdco Plc to 40 percent, from his current 15 per cent, emerging details have revealed that the shares were actually acquired by a trustee acting on behalf of the federal government.
The trustee was set up by the Office of the Attorney General, working with the Central Bank of Nigeria, facilitated the acquisition through a custodial arrangement.
“The shares are now with the trustee for the next two or three weeks when they will decide how to proceed and reach a strategic decision on what to do with the shares and also look at FBN’s plan for capital raise to meet CBN requirement”, a source familiar with the deliberations told THISDAY last night.
It will be recalled that following shareholders infighting, Oba Otudeko was charged to Federal High Court based on a criminal complaint by Otedola-led FBN management – the infighting among shareholders left the CBN concerned that FBN may not meet the new capital requirement if the infighting continues. The apex bank working with the Attorney General decided to seek a none legal solution to the infighting, resulting in the exit of Oba Otudeko in return for withdrawing the criminal complaint and prosecution by First Bank.
The result is the movement seen in the market on Wednesday when a total of N324.47 billion value for 10.47 billion units of shares in off-market block trading on First Holdco Plc shares, took place on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
Oba Otudeko, the erstwhile Chairman of FirstHoldco, was forced to sell off over 20 percent of shares linked to him. Also, another long-term shareholder, the Hassan-Odukale family, voluntarily exited the bank and sold five percent of their holdings in a mega transaction as they sought better shareholder value elsewhere.
It was gathered that the off-market deal was executed at a fixed price of N31.00 per share on NGX as the lender’s stock price on Thursday gained 9.9 per cent to close at N32.2 per share.
A source had told THISDAY that the transactions were negotiated deals, which meant the trades were arranged privately between parties and then reported to the Exchange—not through the regular buy/sell orders seen during daily trading sessions.
Findings showed that 17 separate deals took place involving First Securities Ltd as the buyer with CardinalStone Securities Ltd, Meristem Stockbrokers Ltd, Renaissance Capital (Rencap) Securities Ltd, Regency Asset Management Ltd, United Capital Securities Ltd, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Ltd as the seller of First Holdco’s stock.
It was learnt that First Securities Ltd also acted as seller in some deals, indicating a portfolio reshuffling or inter-account transfer.
Nume Ekeghe and Kayode Tokede
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