Just two weeks after Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola shook the Nigerian equity market with the sale of his stake in Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp), the Lagos-based conglomerate is once again in the news with the acquisition of a 5.076-percent stake by Awele Elumelu, the wife of Nigerian businessman Tony Elumelu.
The acquisition makes her one of the largest shareholders in the group, joining her husband, who had previously increased his stake from 2.07 to more than 30 percent within days after news of Otedola’s acquisition of Transcorp shares was made public.
Awele, the chairperson of Avon Healthcare Limited, the healthcare investments company of Heirs Holdings, spent N6.44 billion ($14 million) to acquire 2,063,484,991 ordinary shares in Transcorp, cementing the family’s holdings in the conglomerate.
Awele has been an active contributor to Heirs Holding and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and the well-being of humanity through her field in various capacities.
The acquisition comes after Femi Otedola sold off his shares in Transcorp to Tony Elumelu, the company’s chairman and largest shareholder. With this transaction, the Elumelu family has solidified their stake in the conglomerate.
Transcorp has been making headlines lately.
Three days ago, Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo commissioned Transafam Power, a subsidiary of Transcorp’s 240MW Afam Three Fast Power plant in Afam, Rivers State.
With an existing power plant already in Afam, this brings the cumulative generating capacity of the plant to 1,000MW.
The commissioning of the Afam Three Fast Power plant came after the presentation of the Discharge Certificate to Transcorp Power by the Vice President and Chairman of the National Council on Privatization in a ceremony held at the presidential Villa Abuja on Mon., May 8. This followed the fulfillment of all privatization conditions set by the Bureau for Public Enterprise.
