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Tony Elumelu, President of Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp), has acquired a further 9.7 billion shares in separate deals in recent days, company documents revealed Thursday.
The businessman turned around the conglomerate’s two largest previous owners to take the top spot.
Transcorp’s shares, totaling 2.4 billion units, traded on the open market during the period, implying that most, if not all, of Mr. Elumelu’s new shares were purchased off-market.
The move increases their combined stake in the group to 10.5 billion shares or 25.9 percent. A breakdown revealed that 273.1 million units were held directly, according to the 2022 financial report, while 273.5 million were held indirectly through heirs.
The remainder was held through HH Capital.
The businessman’s stake is valued at 32.9 billion naira, based on Transcorp’s closing share price on Thursday.
“With this new acquisition, HH Capital Limited now owns a total of 9,991,173,177 units, representing 25.58% of the Company’s total shares,” Transcorp said in a statement.
PREMIUM TIMES calculation from Nigerian Stock Exchange data, the regulatory filing of the acquisition and Transcorp’s 2022 audited financial report showed that, separately, the stake held by HH Capital represents 24.6% of Transcorp’s total issued shares of 40.6 billion units.
Thursday’s announcement marks the latest twist in the fight for Transcorp, whose flagship energy business is the latest draw for billionaire investor Femi Otedola.
Details of the initial covert acquisition of 5.5 percent of Otedola were made public a fortnight ago.
It would later increase its stake to 6.3 percent, placing it at the time in second position behind UBA Nominees, which owns 9.3 percent. UBA Nominees is the custodial business of United Bank for Africa (UBA). Mr. Elumelu’s new acquisition gives him more than a quarter of Transcorp’s voting rights and also means those two will take a back seat behind him among Transcorp’s top three shareholders.
He chairs Nigeria’s third-largest bank by assets, UBA, where he is the largest shareholder, holding a 6.4 percent stake worth 17.2 billion naira at market close on Thursday.