First Bank gets injunction against ThisDay owner, firm over $225m debt

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has restrained First Bank and other commercial banks from dealing with General Hydrocarbons Limited and the Publisher of ThisDay Newspaper, Nduka Obaigbena, over a debt of $225,802,379.69.

The court declared this in an order issued by the presiding judge on December 30, 2024, with the plaintiffs being First Bank of Nigeria Limited and FBN Quest Trustees Limited.

Court documents showed that the order “restrained all commercial banks in Nigeria from releasing or dealing in any manner with any monies and/or whatever assets due to the defendants in the case, including Mr. Obaigbena and General Hydrocarbons, with any of the Banks, wherever situate up to the Plaintiffs/Applicants total claims of $225.8 million being the indebtedness on the Defendaants account with the Plaintiffs/Applicants.”

The interim order also restrained Obaigbena who is a Director in General Hydrocarbons from transferring or dissipating any interest in the assets of the company wherever located in Nigeria, movable or immovable, pending the determination of the Motion or Notice of General interlocutory injunction.

FBN Holdings improves risk management with Chairman Otedola’s leadership
FBN Holdings Plc beat profit estimates for the third-quarter (Q3) of 2024 as the lender continues to benefit from rising interest rates as well as digital income, which validates copious investment in the latest technology.

The lender led by its Chairman Femi Otedola uses the resources of shareholders in generating higher earnings that makes it easier to meet the minimum rate of returns required by equity owners.

For the first nine months through September 2024, FBN Holdings’ profit after tax (PAT) surged by 125.80 percent to N533.87 billion from N234.72 billion the previous year.

First Bank sacks 100 senior staff

The bank earned N873.93 billion in Net interest income (NII) — what it generates from lending minus what it pays for deposits — in the nine months through September, which is 132.70 percent higher than 2023’s N375.53 billion.

The return on average equity (ROAE) rose to 32.80 percent in September 2024, from 26.60 percent as at September 2023.

FBN Holdings, one of Nigeria’s largest financial holding companies in terms of banking assets, was for a long time best known for its value destruction, before the current Chairman Femi Otedola engineered an activist takeover of the firm to the chagrin of some other long term shareholders, who tried to resist the reform minded Otedola but were left licking their wounds.

Over one 10-year period pre the Otedola era, FBN Holdings stock had crashed by 91% between a rights offer at N33 per share mostly bought by retail investors in 2007 and lows of N2.96 per share hit in March of 2017.

Today, FBN Holdings stock trades at a N31 per share. The stock was up 19.1 percent in 2024 alone.

In 2024, Otedola emerged the Chairman Board of Directors of FBN Holdings.

The previous Chairman of First Bank, Ibukun Awosika and Obafemi Otudeko, the chairman of FBN Holdings were both removed from their positions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in April 2021.

Insider related loans at FBN Holdings had been problematic, according to the CBN.

“The problems at the bank were attributed to bad credit decisions, significant and non-performing insider loans, and poor corporate Governance practices. The shareholders of the Bank and FBN Holdings lacked the capacity to recapitalize the bank to minimal requirements,” the CBN said in 2021.

FBNH Holdings asset quality was a key concern for investors during the Otudeko era, with the Bank’s gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio escalating to 24.4% at Full Year (FY) 2016, 22.8% in FY 2017, and 24.7% in FY 2018.

The Star