Billionaire business mogul may have
decided to exit banking business apparently
after his sour encounter with Central Bank
of Nigeria Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, who
has ordered him to dilute his holdings. AYO
OLESIN reports.
Billionaire business mogul, Otunba Mike
Adenuga Jr, may have offered to sell his
stake in Equitorial Trust Bank and already
two banks have shown interest,
authoritative industry sources have
disclosed to our correspondent.
Adenuga, who owns controlling stake in the
Second National Operator, Globacom, and
petroleum marketing company, Conoil and
its upstream sister firm, Conoil Producing, is
believed to have lost interest in banking
business following the takeover of the
bank‘s management by the Central Bank of
Nigeria on October 2, 2009, on grounds of
insufficient capital, according to sources
close to the discussions.
Governor of the CBN, Mr. Lamido Sanusi,
who replaced the bank ‘s executive
management team along with those of Bank
PHB and Spring Bank after the second round
of stress tests on banking sector operators,
had also removed Adenuga from the board.
The business mogul was however
reinstated a few weeks later after he met
with Sanusi and agreed to pump in over
N30bn to recapitalise the bank and correct
other lapses in its management. He also
executed a Deed of Covenant to that effect.
Sanusi‘s decision to review the action was
reportedly based on the non-discovery of
evidence of insider abuse or money
laundering or other criminal activity during
the special audit of the bank unlike the
situation in other troubled banks.
ETB, which had merged with its sister firm,
Devcom Bank, in the 2005 consolidation
round in the banking sector, is the only
universal bank not listed on the Nigeria
Stock Exchange.
In restoring Adenuga to the board, the CBN
had also tacitly asked him to reduce his
holdings in the bank by floating its shares
on the Nigeria Stock Exchange among other
options.
This, according to the CBN, will allow for
better corporate governance and was in
line with the policy of not allowing ”sole
proprietorships” of banks.
According to the terms of the Deed of
Covenant, the shareholders of ETB are to
recapitalise the bank by way of injection of
additional capital latest by June 30, 2010;
restructure, diversify and enlarge the capital
base of the bank either by way of a public
offering of shares, securing a core investor
or merger with a local bank within a year
period; and address the corporate
governance issues in the bank.
The shareholders are also obliged to
reconstitute the board of directors of the
bank specifically by retiring two non-
executive directors and appointing four
new non-executive directors, subject to the
approval of the CBN.
ETB was also expected to convene a general
meeting of the bank ‘s shareholders to
ratify, through a resolution, all the
nominated appointments to the bank‘s
board.
Authoritative sources, however, disclosed
that Adenuga had since reviewed his
business strategy and had concluded that
banking did not fit within his long-term
strategy, moreso as he has the clout to fund
his operations from various local and
offshore banks.
According to a source who is close to the
business mogul, “Adenuga has made his
intention known that he is ready to sell if
the price is right. He wants to exit banking.
Two banks are already looking at ETB ‘s
books, the final decision will be based on an
acceptable valuation of the company. ”
Our correspondent gathered that First Bank
Plc has hired consulting firm, KPMG, to do
due diligence on ETB and that a decision
was being expected.
But the Group Managing Director, Mr. Bisi
Onasanya, in response to our
correspondent ’s enquiries on the matter did
not confirm his interest in ETB, instead said
that they were interested in a number of
banks.
“The fact is that as part of the CBN process,
we have indicated interest in a number of
banks subject to due diligence, after which
decisions will be taken on appropriate
institutions, if any, which have strategic
feet with our clearly defined visions and
aspirations. ”
Efforts to obtain Adenuga’s comments were
not successful.
Adenuga founded ETB and Devcom
Merchant Bank about 21 years ago and
both banks merged in 2005.
Lately, the business mogul is better known
for his ownership of Globacom, the biggest
indigenous telecommunication ‘s operator
with a subscriber base of about 16 million.
Globacom revolutionised GSM operations
shortly after it commenced operations in
2004 with the introduction of per second
billing at a time other networks were
claiming that the system was ”not yet
mature.”
Globacom and Glo Mobile currently operate
mobile telecoms services in three countries
and gateway services in four, while its
submarine cable, Glo 1, has landed in 17
countries in Europe and Africa.
Consolidated Oil was also the first
indigenous company to discover oil in
commercial quantities in 1991 in its Bella
field.
Adenuga also has extensive real estate
holdings in Nigeria, the United States and
Europe.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100215124062

I'm not surprised atall. From my understanding, Glo makes double of the total ETB annual income in a week. Besides, 87 percent of the ETB investment belongs to this man. Therefore, the latest development could only be either to just let go the unnecessary stress or to send a message to the public that he's not desperate.
Furthermore, I believe the only advantage he has in holding this bank is the easy access to funding his other investments; I think any bank will be willing to match this single advantage when it comes down to it.