Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu loses more than $4 million in 36 days

Nigerian businessman and multimillionaire philanthropist Tony Elumelu has recorded a N1.67-billion ($4.06 million) loss in the past 36 days from his stake in one of Nigeria’s leading financial services groups, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA).

UBA is a leading Nigerian financial services group with operations in 20 African countries, as well as the UK, United States and France.

The pan-African bank ranks among Nigeria’s largest lenders. It operates under Elumelu, the billionaire businessman who holds a 6.96-percent stake in the group, deriving a total wealth of N18.8 billion ($45.8-billion) from his position.

The recent decline in the value of his stake can be linked to a single-digit drop in UBA’s share price on the Nigerian Exchange, as investors trimmed down their stake in the tier-1 lender.

As of press time, Dec. 4, shares in UBA were worth N7.9 ($0.01924) per share, 63-basis points lower than their opening price yesterday morning, Dec. 3.

Data gathered by Billionaires.Africa revealed that shares in the leading lender as of the opening of business and trading on Oct. 29 were worth N8.6 ($0.02094) per share.

Portfolio-rotation activities by investors who trimmed down their holdings in the bank caused its share price to slump by more than eight percent to N7.9 ($0.01924) per share as of the time of writing, accruing a total of N23.9 billion ($58.3 million) in losses for the bank and its shareholders.

While the market value of Elumelu’s 6.96-percent stake declined from N20.48 billion ($49.86 billion) to N18.81 billion ($45.8 million), this translates to a N1.67-billion ($4.06 million) loss for the Nigerian businessman in the past 36 days.

So far this year, the valuation of UBA and the market value of Elumelu’s stake in the bank is down by nearly nine percent.

Elumelu, who holds more than 2.3 billion shares in the pan-African bank, has earned a total of N1.72 billion ($4.18 million) in dividends from his stake.

The multimillionaire philanthropist recently paid out a total of $24.75 million in funding support to 4,949 entrepreneurs in Africa in line with his commitment to empower entrepreneurs on the continent.