Former First Bank Chairmen, Mr Oba Otudeko and Mr Tunde Hassan- Odukale, sold 10.433 billion shares of First Holdco to RC Investments Management Limited. In other words, RC Investments bought the shares of the entity as earlier reported by Economy Post.
First Bank is a subsidiary of First Holdco. Mr Otedola had, on Wednesday, secured a humongous off-market transaction of 10.43 billion units of the financial institution’s shares estimated at N323.4 billion.
The transaction raised Mr Otedola’s stake in First Bank or First Holdco to 36.7 percent – after the acquisition of the shares of his two major competitors.
Mr Otudeko, who was First Bank’s chairman for 24 years before his removal by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-led Godwin Emefiele in 2021, owned 8.65 percent stake, excluding the 7.4 percent and 4.7 percent shareholding under litigation.
READ ALSO: First Bank: How Otedola bought Otudeko, Hassan-Odukale’s 10.43bn shares, raised stake to 37%
He had been at loggerheads with Mr Otudeko over who owns what in First Holdco. He had joined the CBN in a court case over an alleged deliberate reduction of his stake in First Holdco.
Information on the Nigerian Exchange Group on Wednesday shows that the humongous First Bank transaction was brokered by First Securities Ltd, a firm within the FirstHoldCo Group. A number of firms were involved in the sell side of the transaction, including First Securities, CardinalStone Securities, Meristem Stockbrokers, Renaissance Capital, Regency Asset Management, United Capital Securities, and Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers.
Mr Otedola’s shares were acquired at N31 per share in 17 deals on Wednesday, reliable market sources told Economy Post. However, the purchase transaction was made by Mr Babatunde Samuel Sule-led RC Investments Management Limited, a trustee in the transaction.
Who is Mr Sule?
Since the report of Mr Otedola’s transaction, many Nigerians have called in to ask Economy Post who Mr Samuel Babatunde Sule is. With a sense of responsibility, Economy Post dug into the identity of Mr Sule and can now provide more information about him. It must be emphasised that Economy Post is not alleging that Mr Sule committed any crime or illegal transaction.
Mr Sule is the chief executive office of Rennaisance Capital (RenCap. He joined Renaissance Capital in 2018. Prior to joining Renaissance, he had been involved in the origination, structuring and distribution of products for domestic and international issuers across West Africa, according to Business Insider.
However, he did not buy the shares on behalf of Rennaisance Capital. At least no evidence points to that. RC Investments Management Limited, linked to Mr Sule, is a broker and trustee, and is not linked to RenCap, according to market sources.
Some market sources said RC Investments Management Limited was used by both First Holdco and the Nigerian government as a trustee for the transaction.
Mr Sule-linked RC Investment bought nearly 7.787 billion shares from Barbican Capital and RAML, owned by Mr Otudeko, on Wednesday.
The firm also bought 2.647 billion shares from firms linked to Mr Hassan-Odukale such as Leadway Holdings, Leadway Pensure PFA, Haskal Holdings, and Leadway/NNPC Staff Pension Investment, BusinessDay reported.
Apart from Rennaisance Capital, Mr Sule is equally connected to RC Africa Limited, Avuso Payment, Odde Properties, and Green Arrow Services Limited, according to Endole.
Experts said the transaction was initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to resolve the long-running battle between Mr Otedola and Mr Otudeko, which has hampered the First Bank’s capacity to raise capital.
The court process
In August 2024, Economy Post had reported a raging fight at First Bank of Nigeria over who owned the largest share. The tussle was between Mr Otedola, and Mr Otudeko who owns Barbican Capital, which is affiliated to Honeywell, an Apapa, Lagos-based flour miller. Oba Otudeko is the founder and chairman of Honeywell Group.
READ ALSO: Ex-First Bank manager accuses Otudeko of granting loans to firms linked to him
The contention was about who owned the largest share in First Holdco. Barbican Capital, owned by Otudeko, had claimed that it was the largest shareholder with 15.01 percent stake in First Holdco, alleging that Otedola owned only a 9.41 percent share. Barbican Capital claimed that its 5.38 billion units of shares in the bank had been altered by Nigeria’s oldest bank. First Holdco, however, disagreed, arguing that Barbican could not provide evidence of some of the shares it claimed to own.
First Holdco further argued that Barbican was concealing the fact of a verification exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regarding its alleged significant shareholdings. It noted that only 3.110 billion shares (representing 8.67 percent of Barbican’s total shares) of Barbican Capital’s total shares could be verified by the CBN, while its alleged 2.34 billion shares (representing 6.52 percent) could not be verified.
First Holdco had also claimed that Barbican Capital did not challenge the outcome of the verification exercise carried out by the CBN as the supervisory and regulatory body regarding share ownership. However, Barbican claimed that it had attached a statement by the Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), which is a computerised depository, clearing, settlement, and delivery system for transactions in securities. Barbican noted that CSCS’s statement showed that as at May 23, 2024, its shareholding stood at 5.386 billion shares.
Barbican went to court to seek clarification. However, the matter seems to have been resolved with this transaction.
