Industrialist Femi Otedola buys 5% in Nigerian national corporation Transcorp International

INDUSTRIALIST Otunba Femi Otedola, has bought a 5.5% stake in Nigerian public corporation Transcorp International purchasing 2,245,639,251 shares of the group in a big boost for the conglomerate designed to become the bellweather of the Nigerian economy.

Proposed by former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Transcorp was designed to be processing to manufacturing giant with tentacles in numerous facets of the Nigerian economy. Designed along the same lines as San Miguel in the Philippines, Siemens in Germany, Mitsubishi in Japan or Daewoo in South Korea, Transcorp was to be a private conglomerate, with the government having a minority stake in it.

However, the plan appears to have gone off the boil in recent years but this recent purchase has breathed new life into the project. Otunba Otedola's purchase of a considerable stake in the conglomerate has led to its share price rising on the Nigerian Exchange Limited over the last week.

Funmi Olofintuyi, Transcorp's company secretary, said: “As noted in our previous communication, the company welcomes this expression of confidence in its leadership and management as we continue our unwavering commitment to superior stakeholders’ returns, anchored in our ideology of Africapitalism. Be rest assured of our commitment to remain resolute in executing our group’s strategy of making strategic investments in key sectors within the Nigerian economy, our transformation agenda and our ability to contribute positively towards building prosperity for all.”

Transcorp's 2022 financial report revealed that as of December 31, 2022, only UBA Nominees Limited Trading, held a 5% or more stake of the issued and fully paid shares of 50 kobo of the company. Also, Tony Elumelu, who is the chairman of the group, directly holds 273,104,04 units of shares while 293,983,193 shares are held indirectly through HH Capital and 273,545,722 shares are held indirectly through Heirs Holdings.

UBA Nominees Limited has UBA Trustees Limited, Mr Emmanuel Nnorom and three others as directors and it is controlled by UBA Group, which has Mr Elumelu as its chairman. Transcorp corporation has investments in power generation, hospitality and the oil and gas sectors of the economy.