Otedola raises First HoldCo stake to 20.42% with N29.6bn share purchase

CHAIRMAN of First HoldCo Plc, Mr Femi Otedola, has increased his stake in the financial services group to 20.42 percent after acquiring 680.8 million shares through the company’s recently concluded private placement.

The shares were purchased at N44 each, translating to an investment of about N29.6 billion. The offer price was below First HoldCo’s closing market price of N61 per share on Thursday.

Sources familiar with the transaction said Otedola and another institutional shareholder accounted for about 90 percent of the N45 billion raised through the private placement.

“The private placement has been completed and Mr. Otedola acquired about 680.8 million shares, investing about N30 billion in the HoldCo. Another institutional investor who is already a shareholder acquired most of the remaining shares,” a source disclosed to The Cable

The latest acquisition takes Otedola’s total holdings in First HoldCo to approximately 9.29 billion shares, further consolidating his position as the company’s largest shareholder.

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With the completion of the N45 billion capital raise, First HoldCo’s share capital climbed to N525.6 bhas illion, surpassing the N500 billion minimum capital requirement stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for international commercial banks.

The fundraising forms part of the group’s broader N350 billion private placement programme aimed at recapitalising its flagship subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, and strengthening its overall balance sheet.

Otedola has steadily expanded his ownership in the company over the past year. In May, he acquired 549.53 million shares valued at N43.41 billion through Calvados Global Services Limited, his investment vehicle.

The ongoing capital-raising efforts are tied to First HoldCo’s ambition to build a N1 trillion capital base. At the company’s 14th Annual General Meeting in May, shareholders approved plans to raise up to N253.09 billion through a mix of public offers, rights issues, private placements, bonus issues, scrip dividends and other equity instruments across local and international markets.