Tony Elumelu, chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), has acquired over 45 million shares in the financial institution.
Bili Odum, group company secretary, announced the transaction in a regulatory filing on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on Tuesday.
Odum said 45,034,044 shares were acquired on May 23 at N34.3 each – bringing the total transaction value to approximately N1.53 billion.
In 2023, Elumelu raised his shares in UBA by 161.9 million to 2.54 billion (direct and indirect) from 2.38 billion in 2022.
On May 25, 2024, the business mogul announced plans to further increase his stake in the company.
The latest development comes as the company jostles to raise funds following a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) asking commercial banks with international licences to increase their capital base to N500 billion.
On April 25, the UBA chairman said the bank would raise N144.8 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025 to add to its current capital base of N355.2 billion.
He assured that the final capital raise will be completed before the CBN deadline.
The CBN had said banks have until March 2026 to meet the new requirement.
