BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The Group Chief Executive, Access Corporation Plc, Herbert Wigwe has acquired 45 million fresh units of the shares of Access Bank through Tengen Holding Limited, an Investment Company based in Mauritius.
The transaction executed on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited on November 3, 2022 was valued at about N358 million at N7.95 per Ordinary share of the bank.
According to details of the transactions made available by NGX Limited, Wigwe owns the investment as an indirect shareholding through Tengen Holding (Mauritius) Limited.
Wigwe, who is the bank’s single largest shareholder, accounting for about 4.27 percent of its total shareholding structure, by the latest acquisition of 45 million Ordinary shares, seeks to further consolidate its position as the biggest shareholder of the bank.
Wigwe started his professional career with Coopers & Lybrand Associates, an international firm of Chartered Accountants.
He spent over 10 years at Guaranty Trust Bank Plc where he managed several portfolios, including financial institutions, large corporates and multinationals.
He left Guaranty Trust Bank as an Executive Director to co-lead the transformation of Access Bank Plc in March 2002 as Deputy Managing Director.
He was appointed Group Managing Director/CEO effective January 1, 2014 and served in that capacity till May 2022. He was subsequently appointed a Non-Executive Director of the Bank effective May 2022.
Wigwe is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Programme. He holds a master’s degree in Banking and International Finance from the University College of North Wales, a master’s degree in Financial Economics from the University of London and a B.Sc. degree in Accounting from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
Wigwe is the Chairman of The Access Bank (UK) Ltd and a Non-Executive Director of Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company Plc; FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange; Shared Agents Network Expansion Facilities Ltd and Agri-Business/ SME Enterprises Investment Scheme. He is also a member of the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.
Access Bank, founded in 1989, is a Nigerian commercial bank, whose main business activities are organised along four business segments: corporate and investment banking, commercial banking, business banking and personal and private banking. The bank has several subsidiaries and branches throughout Africa as well as a few branches located in the United Kingdom. Access Bank was the first Nigerian bank to adopt the Equator Principles, in June 2009.
