Nigerian energy tycoon Femi Otedola has concluded the sale of his 75% stake in Forte Oil, a publicly listed oil marketing company, to Prudent Energy, a local oil trading firm.
Otedola made this known on his verified Instagram handle @FemiOtedola, on Wednesday.He said he has moved on from being a player in the petroleum industry to focusing on his power generation business.
In a message he posted on Wednesday on his Instagram page where he has more than 650,000 followers, the businessman announced that the sale has been completed and he is now prepared to focus on Nigeria’s power sector.
“A few years ago, my team and I embarked on an arduous task of transforming a moribund petroleum marketing business, African Petroleum Plc (formerly British Petroleum) into Forte Oil Plc; a leading integrated solutions provider with solid footprints in downstream petroleum marketing, Upstream Services and Power Generation and one in which we built intrinsic value to the benefits of our shareholders. In line with my principle of business focus, we have divested from our marketing and upstream businesses and shall from now on focus and consolidate on the gains of our power generation business, Geregu Power Plc. We wish our successors the very best and urge them to build on our legacies which have been established since 1964,” Otedola said.
Last December, Forte Oil announced that its controlling shareholder, Otedola, was selling off his interest in the company. A disclosure notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had said that Otedola reached an agreement with another energy firm, Prudent Energy.
“Otedola’s divestment from the downstream business is pursuant to his decision to explore and maximize business opportunities in refining and petrochemicals,” the disclosure sent to the Nigerian bourse said.
