Greek tycoon John Coumantaros gains $54.1 million from stake in Flour Mills

Omokolade Ajayi -

Investors in Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, a Nigerian agro-allied company, have seen impressive gains in the market value of their stakes in the leading manufacturer after it announced the acquisition of a 71.69-percent stake in Honeywell Flour Mills two weeks ago.

The acquisition of the majority stake in Nigeria’s leading flour and pasta product manufacturer is a strategic attempt to build a more resilient national champion in the food and agro-allied industry.

Since the start of business this week, John Coumantaros, the chairman of Flour Mills and a Greek businessman and leading investor, has seen the value of his stake rise significantly as market participants on the local bourse scramble to acquire shares in the agro-allied firm.

Coumantaros, one of Nigeria’s wealthiest investors, owns a significant 63.34-percent stake in the agro-allied group through Excelsior Shipping Company Limited.

According to research by Billionaires.Africa, the businessman has made a total profit of N22.46 billion ($54.1 million) from his shares in the past 24 days thanks to a double-digit increase in the firm’s share price.

Shares in the leading agro-allied company were trading at N39.2 ($0.0944) per share as of press time on May 13, up 3.3 percent from its opening price on the Nigerian Exchange this morning.

Since April 19, 19 shares of Flour Mills have increased from N30.55 ($0.0735) to N39.2 ($0.0944) at the time of writing, representing a 28.3-percent gain for shareholders in the last 24 days.

This amounts to a total gain of N22.46 billion ($54.1 million) for the multimillionaire businessman in only 24 days.

The acquisition of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc by the leading agro-allied company will strengthen its manufacturing capacity and create synergies to provide better products to consumers, resulting in a behemoth with assets worth N703 billion ($1.7 billion) and revenue worth N850 billion ($2.1 billion).

This will result in the establishment of a strong national champion in Nigeria, combining Flour Mills’ market-leading offerings such as grain-based foods, sugar and breakfast cereals with Honeywell’s diverse and differentiated range of carbohydrates products.