Nigeria’s equity market witnessed an unprecedented volume on Wednesday, when 11.67 billion units valued at ₦363.412 billion changed hands in 36,635 deals, compared to the 1.286 billion shares traded on Monday. There was no trading on Tuesday, following the public holiday declared by the Federal Government in honour of President Muhammadu Buhari who died in a London hospital on Sunday and was buried in his Daura home in Katsina.
First Holding Company was the most sought after stock, accounting for 10.467 billion units or 89.69 percent of total volume, valued at ₦324.473 billion, in what market hearsay links to a major consolidation involving current chairman of the financial services conglomerate- Mr. Olufemi Otedola and his predecessor- Ayoola Oba Otedola, a long-term chairman of the group. Shares of First Holdings opened at ₦29.30, closed ₦32.20 each, representing 9.90% growth.
The Guardian, a Nigerian daily had last month reported that the battle for control of the country’s oldest financial institution was close to a final resolution with the planned exit of significant shareholders – Otudeko and the Leadway Assurance/Olukayode Odukale bloc from the group.
Citing sources close to the deal, both parties are said to have agreed to sell their stakes to billionaire businessman Femi Otedola at the price of N31 per share, in a move expected to firmly consolidate Otedola’s hold on the group, bring to an end months of unease and intense boardroom squabble that has seen the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) wade in at various points in recent year.
Investdata News recalls that the fierce boardroom squabble for the soul of the group consumed Dr. Sulaiman Adeduntan, the then managing director/chief executive appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. In the aftermath of the battle, the group annual general meeting originally slated for August 22, 2024, was postponed twice due to a pile of lawsuits, heightening fears among analysts, because the AGM was to approve the group’s bid to raise N350 billion needed to help it meet the CBN’s minimum capital requirement for banks with international flavour.
According to the group’s audited financial report for the year-ended December 31, 2024, First Holding Company reported Otedola has having direct and indirect stakes of 1.689 billion units (4.71 percent) and 2.543 billion shares (or 7.09 percent through Calvados Global Services Limited) respectively, while Barbican Capital Limited, said to be related to Otudeko has 3.104 billion units of 8.65%. There is no filing in the report for Mr. Hassan Oye-Odukale, the majority shareholder in Leadway Assurance, but he was reported as owning 8,854,003 units and indirect stake totaling 360,961,091 units at the end of 2020.
Meanwhile, at the close of Wednesday’s trading on the NGX, the composite All-Share index gained 1.80 percent, raising year-to-date return to 25.30%, just as the market capitalization closed at ₦81.58 trillion, after 38 stocks recorded gains, led by Nestle Nigeria, Eunisell, First Holding Company, United Bank for Africa, Stanbic IBTC, and UACN, among others.
