The chairman of Nigerian conglomerate Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko has been identified by multiple sources as the buyer of the 4.7 billion shares of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings that happened in a cross deal on Thursday.
The shares which Otudeko bought for N87.8 billion at N19 per unit is the largest volume of First bank shares traded in a single day since 2012, when the stock exchange started publishing data.
It also translates to 13 percent of the bank’s outstanding market value.
Sources say Otudeko, who was chairman of First Bank until 2019 when he was ousted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, is making a swift comeback to becoming the single largest shareholder of the bank.
Billionaire Nigerian investor, Femi Otedola became the bank’s single largest shareholder in 2021 after a tussle with Hassan Odukale who was also vying for control of the bank after a leadership gap emerged from Otudeko’s exit.
First Bank did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
“Otudeko is flush with cash from the sale of Honeywell and is buying back the bank’s shares through proxies,” a source familiar with the matter said.
Flour Mills, Nigeria’s biggest miller by market value, snapped up Otudeko’s Honeywell Flour Mills Plc last year in a deal worth N82 billion.
Otudeko who held 1.49 percent of First Bank shares in 2021 was kicked out of the board by the now suspended CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele after allegations of insider trading called the bank’s corporate governance into question.
