BUSINESS

Tony Elumelu, family raise stake in Transcorp to 36%

June 14, 2023

Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu and his family upped their stake in Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp) to more than one-third, taking their combined interest in the conglomerate to 14.6 billion shares.

At a market price of N3.53 per share on Wednesday, the Elumelus’ stake in Transcorp comes to over N51.6 billion.

The magnate, his relatives, his fully-owned investment firm, HH Capital, and the family-owned investment company, Heirs Holdings, now hold at least a 36 per cent stake between them, according to PREMIUM TIMES’ calculation, using market data and regulatory filings.

The latest transactions taking the family’s holding to that level variously occurred on 5 June, when Awele Elumelu, wife of Mr Elumelu, bought 7.4 million shares in the firm.

That was worth N22 million, according to the details of a note published by the NGX Tuesday.

The share price of Nigeria’s biggest listed conglomerate, Transcorp, which has investments in energy, hospitality and power, has surged nearly three times this year, making it the 5th best-performing stock of the 156 stocks quoted on the Nigerian bourse.

The performance owed its debt to the buying pressure on the stock resulting from the flurry of activities following the move by Femi Otedola, the chairman and biggest shareholder of FBN Holdings and Geregu Power, to acquire the biggest interest in the corporation.

Mr Otedola said in a May statement to PREMIUM TIMES he tabled an offer of N250 billion to acquire Transcorp, whose market value was N40 billion at the time, which was declined.

He had disclosed a monumental ambition to scale up that valuation to “at least N2 trillion.”

The botched acquisition had earlier in April spurred a series of off-market share purchases by the FBN Holdings chair, prompting a greenmail situation that took his haul in Transcorp to 6.3 per cent, making him its second-biggest shareholder ahead of Mr Elumelu.

In the following days, Mr Elumelu bucked up his holding in the firm to 25.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent.

That cost him $65 million, according to Bloomberg, with 11.7 billion shares acquired at different prices beginning on 27 April.

Mr Otedola later offloaded his substantial shareholdings to his rival, exiting the company’s top ownership.

Transcorp generates all its revenues within the country, according to its 2022 audited earnings report.

It runs three power plants, alone accounting for 2,000 megawatts or over 40 per cent of Nigeria’s total installed power-generating capacity, a strength that has endeared it to the FBN Holdings’ chair.

Last Month, the conglomerate acquired Abuja Electricity Distribution Company from United Bank for Africa (UBA), which took over the power distributor more than two years earlier over a $122 million debt. Mr Elumelu holds the biggest stake in UBA, which he also chairs.

PREMIUM TIMES presents a breakdown of The Elumelu family stake in Transcorp.

TONY ELUMELU

273.104 million shares held as of 31 December 2022.
Total Shareholding: 273.104 million

HH CAPITAL LIMITED

293.983 million shares held as of 31 December 2022
9.697 billion shares bought @ various prices from 19 to 25 April 2023.
2 billion shares bought @ various prices on 27 April 2023.
Total Shareholding: 11.991 billion

HH HOLDINGS LIMITED

273.546 million shares held as of 31 December 2022.
Total Shareholding: 273.546 million

AWELE ELUMELU

2.063 billion shares bought on 2 and 5 May 2023 @ N3.12 per unit totalling N6.4 billion
7.373 million shares bought on 5 June 2023 @ various prices for N22 million
5.674 million shares bought on 4 May 2022 @ various prices for N6.7 million
35,675 shares bought on 9 May 2022 @ N1.20 per unit for N42,810
Total Shareholding: 2.069 billion shares