Mr Femi Otedola, a billionaire industrialist, has become the largest individual shareholder in Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp), a publicly traded conglomerate led by Mr Tony Elumelu.
A leading stockbroker at the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) revealed to THISDAY that the billionaire now possesses approximately 2.24 billion shares of the company, equivalent to 5.52 per cent.
According to the audited results and accounts for the period ending December 31, 2022, the chairman of Transcrop Corporation, Elumelu, owned 273,104,041 shares of the company’s issued capital.
In addition, he held indirectly 293,983,193 shares through HH Capital Limited and 273,545,722 shares through Heirs Holdings Limited.
Dr Stanley Lawson, a Non-Executive Director of Transcrop Corporation, owned 122,790,102 directly issued shares, while Mrs Owen Omogiafo, the President, held 12,634,188 shares in the multinational conglomerate.
UBA Nominees is the only other shareholder that possesses more than five per cent of the company. As of 2022, UBA Nominees owns approximately 9.25 per cent of the company, down from 9.26 per cent in 2021.
As of December 31, 2022, only UBA Nominees Limited-Trading held more than five per cent of the issued and completely paid 50 kobo shares of the Company, according to the 2022 audited results and accounts posted on the NGX.
According to company records, no other shareholder possessed more than five per cent of the stock. Additionally, approximately 39.65 billion of the company’s 40.65 billion outstanding shares are free-floating. In fact, 1,695 individuals own approximately 89% of the company’s shares.
Elumelu, a billionaire investor who assumed control of Transcorp in 2012, is the current owner of the business. Since then, the organisation has acquired a power generation company and expanded into the energy and gas industries.
Femi Otedola acquired significant control of FBN Holdings at the beginning of last year when he announced he had acquired shareholdings above the 5% threshold.
This resulted in an immediate bidding frenzy for the stock. However, unlike FBN Holdings, Transcorp is controlled by a single majority shareholder.
Additionally, Otedola owns nearly 90 per cent of Geregu Power Plc, which was listed on the Exchange last year. It is unclear whether his most recent acquisition is intended to increase his investment in the power sector.
Transnational Corporation reported revenue of N134.7 billion for the year ending December 31, 2022, a 21 per cent increase from the N111.2 billion reported in 2021.
The group’s profit before taxes increased by eight per cent from N27.9 billion in 2021 to N30.3 billion in 2022.
The Board of Directors of Transcrop Corporation approved the payment of a dividend of N2.03billion (2021:N812.96million), or 5 kobo per share, on the outstanding ordinary shares of 40,647,990,293 shares of 50 kobo each for the year ending December 31, 2022.