BUSINESS DAY
In the storied corridors of First Bank Holdings, Nigeria’s oldest bank, a battle of titanic proportions is brewing over the single largest shareholder of the bank.
First Bank Holdings in its audited accounts for 2023 puts Femi Otedola, the bank’s chairman, as the single largest shareholder with a 9.41 percent stake in the financial institution.
However, data from the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), the widely accepted source for confirming share ownership, puts Barbican Capital, which is affiliated with the Oba Otudeko-owned Honeywell Group, as the largest single shareholder with a 15.01 percent stake.
There are also records kept by the bank’s registrars, Meristem Registrars & Probate Services Ltd, confirming Barbican Capital as the single largest shareholder with 5,386,397,202 shares (5.38 billion) shares as of May 23, 2024.
Barbican Capital has sued First Bank Holdings for wrongly stating its shareholding in its audited financial statement, following a curious U-turn from the figures published in its unaudited statement where it allotted the right shareholding to Barbican Capital.
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