Otedola Becomes First Bank Majority Shareholder
Nigerian Billionaire Businessman Femi Otedola Takes Over First Bank of Nigeria As the Majority Shareholder.
Nigerian billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola has today, Friday, October 22, 2021, taken over First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
An exclusive report monitored on The Street Journal by Infoexpert24, says Femi Otedola took over First Bank with his recent acquisition of about N30 billion worth of shares, making him the single largest shareholder of the bank.
According to the report, Otedola being the largest shareholder means he holds the highest voting shares and can dictate the direction of the bank through his voting power.
The report recalls that when Otedola divested his 75% direct and indirect shareholding in Forte Oil, via a merger of his company Zenon Oil and former African Petroleum in 2019, the decision raised questions as to why he made such a decision especially because of the lucrative nature of the oil and gas sector.
At the time, that Otedola had announced that he wanted to explore and maximize business opportunities in refining and petrochemicals.
Otedola singled out First Bank despite having investments in the real estate and financial sector, for the single reason that there wasn’t exactly one man calling the shots there, unlike in other new generation banks, the report added.
Meanwhile, Otedola wasted no time in taking advantage of the leadership crisis that rocked First Bank not too long ago that led to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sacking both the chairman of the bank, Ibukun Awosika, and Obafemi Otudeko, the chairman of FBN Holdings.