FBN Holdings has appointed Femi Otedola, a billionaire businessman, as the new chairman of its Board of Directors.
He will succeed Ahmad Abdullahi.
In a corporate notice filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Wednesday, the financial institution said Otedola was appointed at the board meeting.
Femi Otedola had been appointed as a Non-Executive Director on August 15, 2023. His appointment was thereafter ratified by shareholders at its last Annual General Meeting.
In its unaudited consolidated financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2023, Otedola listed as the largest shareholder of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc, despite the acquisition of 4.7 billion units of FBNH shares by the former chairman of the group, Oba Otudeko, in July.
Indirectly, Otedola held 1,989,342,376 units representing 5.54 per cent of the entire shareholding of the bank. Directly, Otedola held 40,033,982 units of FBN Holdings shares, which is 0.11 per cent.
Combined, Otedola hold 2,029,376,358 units of FBN Holdings shares which is about 5.65 per cent.
Speaking on the development, Bisi Bakare, the president of the Pragmatic Shareholders Association, said, “I’m happy about his appointment.
He is a tested hand. He has been the chairman of many companies and he is presently the chairman of Geregu Power. We believe that Otedola will perform.
“If you look at any company where Otedola has been chairman, they were always the first companies to file their annual reports. I believe that he will introduce same to FBN Holdings. Anywhere Femi Otedola is, he always makes sure that he pays good dividends to minority shareholders. We hope that this time Otedola is going to be good to shareholders especially minority shareholders.”
She added that the minority shareholders community had deliberated extensively on Otedola becoming chairman of FBN Holdings and even conducted a poll on their WhatsApp group, where almost 50 per cent supported the billionaire businessman’s emergence as the lender’s chairman, over 20 per cent opposed and less than 20 per cent decided to abstain from the poll. [Punch]
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