Nigerian tycoon Oba Otudeko loses $976K in one day from stake in flour mill

Honeywell Group’s billionaire owner Obafoluke Otudeko has recorded an N371 million ($976,316.5) loss from his 75-percent majority stake in Honeywell Flour Mills Plc. The 75 percent is equivalent to a total of 5.3 billion units of shares.

The flour mill is a subsidiary of Honeywell Group, a leading consumer goods producer in Nigeria.

Otudeko’s stake in the flour mill dropped in value by 5.6 percent on the back of sell-off pressures on the shares, driven primarily by investor portfolio rotation activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Nairametrics reported.

The share price of the flour mill fell from N1.25 at the market’s opening on March 18 to N1.18 at the market’s close. The decline left his total share valuation in the company at N6.247 billion ($16.45 million) against N6.618 billion ($17.44 million) recorded the previous day. He bought his shares in the flour mill through Siloam Global Services Limited.

Otudeko is also the single majority shareholder of First Bank Nigeria (FBN) Holdings Plc through his direct and indirect stakes in the company, Nairametrics reported earlier.

The billionaire’s stakes in both the flour mill and the bank are worth about N10 billion ($23.3 million). His current 538 million units of shares in the tier-1 capital bank are worth N3.8 billion ($10 million).

He is the founder and chairman of the Honeywell Group, a thriving conglomerate in Nigeria. His investments cut across various subsidiaries of Honeywell Group, including Pivot Engineering Company Limited, Uraga Real Estate Limited and Pavilion Technology Limited.

In addition to the consumer goods sector, Honeywell Group operates in oil and gas, marine transportation and real estate.

As of 2014, Forbes recognized Otudeko as the 46th wealthiest man in Africa with a total net worth of $550 million.