Nigerian multimillionaire banker Herbert Wigwe has recorded a N986.6-million ($2.39 million) gain in his stake in the leading banking group Access Bank in the past 14 days.
Wigwe, the CEO of Access Bank, a pan-African financial services group with an operational footprint in 12 countries, holds a beneficial 4.27-percent stake, or 1,517,850,729 ordinary shares, in the multinational group.
As of press time, Jan. 7, shares in the Lagos-based bank closed at N9.5 ($0.023), 53-basis points higher than their opening price on the Nigerian Exchange this morning.
Since Dec. 24, shares in the tier-1 lender have risen from a price of N8.85 ($0.0214) per share to N9.5 ($0.023) at the time of drafting this report due to sustained buying interest among investors and stock traders.
The surge in the bank’s shares caused the market value of Wigwe’s 4.27-percent stake to rise from N13.43 billion ($32.5 million) on Dec. 24, 2021 to N14.42 billion ($34.89 million) on Jan. 7.
This translates to a N986.6-million ($2.39 million) gain for the banker in the past two weeks.
The recent surge in the stock price of Access Bank, which led to the recent gains in Wigwe’s stake, can be linked to the bank’s results for 2021 and expectations of a robust financial performance in the new year.
In the first nine months of 2021, Access Bank posted a profit of N121.9 billion ($294.9 million), up from the N102.3 billion ($247.5 million) that it posted in the prior year.
Recently, the tier-1 lender has resolved to adopt a holding company model in an effort to diversify its operations from its core banking operations to payment service banking, asset management and pension fund administration without any distractions to its primary activities.
The conclusion of the strategic move will see the bank join other financial services providers such as FBN Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, FCMB Group and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc.
