FBN Holdings Considers Name Change to First Holdco

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Shareholders of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, will on Thursday, November 14, 2024, consider the proposal by the board to change the brand name of the organisation to First Holdco.

The company, in a notice to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited over the weekend, said this action is expected to be taken at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for next month.

The yearly shareholders’ gathering was supposed to have been held, but it has come under controversies, with efforts being taken to stop it in court.

FBN Holdings has been under a leadership tussle, especially after a popular businessman, Mr Femi Otedola, acquired a substantial equity stake in the financial services firm.

In the notice to the NGX, the organisation said it would expect its shareholders to consider, “That there should be a change of the legal and brand names of the company from FBN Holdings Plc and FBNHoldings to First Holdco Plc and FirstHoldco, respectively.”

Business Post reports that the name change will affect the subsidiaries of FBN Holdings, according to the information filed by the firm to the stock exchange, signed by its acting scribe, Mr Adewale Arogundade.

Also at the planned meeting, the firm’s investors will be required to authorise the board to undertake a capital raise of N350 billion through a public offering, private placement, rights issue or international capital markets at price(s) to be determined by way of book building process or any other valuation method or combination of methods.

This resolution, if passed, will lead to an increase in the share capital of FBN Holdings by the necessary number of ordinary shares of the company, a part of the disclosure stated.

It also said, “Upon the completion of the processes for the change of name, the increase of the company’s share capital and allotment of the new ordinary shares in accordance with the resolutions above, the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company be amended as necessary to reflect the company’s new legal name and issued share capital.”