Billionaire businessman and chairman of Geregu Power Plc, Femi Otedola has emerged the chairman of the board of FBN Holdings Plc. The change of gua
Billionaire businessman and chairman of Geregu Power Plc, Femi Otedola has emerged the chairman of the board of FBN Holdings Plc.
The change of guard happened at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Group in Lagos on Wednesday.
Otedola succeeds Ahmad Abdullahi, a seasoned economist who was appointed chairman of the holding company on 17 December 2021.
Otedola became a non-executive director of FBN Holdings on 14 August 2023, months after he acquired a substantial stake in First Bank.
He is the financial institution’s biggest and only substantial shareholder, holding a 5.6 per cent stake.
He has had investments in port agency, shipping, storage and insurance brokerage. In 2007, he acquired a controlling interest in African Petroleum, which later metamorphosed into Forte Oil. Forte Oil itself would later be sold and renamed Ardova.
Geregu Power, which he took public in October 2022, accounts for about nine per cent of Nigeria’s grid electricity.
He has held several board memberships, including President of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping and was past Chairman of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
A botched move to become the chief shareholder of Transnational Corporation, Nigeria’s biggest conglomerate by market value, in April 2023 saw him sell his stake of 6.3 per cent to rival Tony Elumelu.
This January, Otedola acquired a significant stake in Dangote Cement, a company largely owned by his friend, Aliko Dangote. The exact value of his shares remained unknown, but sources say his holdings are worth more than N6 billion.
The 61-year-old entrepreneur currently sits at number 20 on Forbes list of African billionaires with a net worth of $1.1bn.
