June 09, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s foremost financial service group, FBN Holdings Plc, has announced that its largest single shareholder, Femi Otedola, has sold down about 834 million of his FBN Holdings shares in a deal valued at about N9.28 billion.
The transactions were reported by FBN Holdings as part of its ‘Insider Dealing’ notification to The Exchange, a mandatory filing required to be disclosed whenever a significant shareholder is selling shares.
According to the series of filings posted on the website of the Nigerian Exchange, Mr. Otedola and his entities sold about 834,939,764.00 units representing about 30 percent of his shareholdings in the bank holding company.
The sale also reduces his shareholding from about 7.57 percent to about 5.24 percent, thus 2.3 percent of the bank shares have been sold in a matter of 3 days.
The sale comes after a protracted boardroom tussle over who owns the largest shares of the company.
The confusion culminated in several press releases by the bank forcing the Nigerian Exchange to wade in and clarify the issues.
The latest audited accounts of the banks placed the billionaire at 7.57 percent of the ownership of the bank.
It is unclear who is buying the shares from Otedola.
Many investors express surprise at the development, wondering why the billionaire is selling when he should have been buying thus, and arousing suspicion that he may be exiting the bank.
Stockbrokers and other experts who expressed concern about the sale are predicting that it could impact the valuation of the bank that has just experienced its best price rally in years.
FBH Holding’s share price has risen from about N6 to over N12 when it was revealed that the billionaire investor was mopping up shares of the bank, thus triggering a scramble.
The share price has also traded within the N11-N12 range since Otedola was declared the majority shareholder this year.
