The Central Bank of Nigeria and FBN Holdings Plc have asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Barbican Capital Ltd.
The firm is claiming that its 5,386,397,202 shares in FBN Holdings were altered.
Barbican Capital Ltd, affiliated with Honeywell Group Limited, filed the suit alleging it acquired 15.1% of FBN Holdings’ shares listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The firm claims that FBN Holdings’ registrars and the Central Securities Clearing System recorded these shares.
However, FBN Holdings Plc argues that Barbican Capital Ltd failed to disclose an ongoing verification process by the CBN. According to FBN Holdings’ counsel, Babajide Koku, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), “The plaintiff’s primary purpose in filing this suit is to bypass the verification process and the CBN’s decision regarding their shareholding.”
FBN Holdings added that on July 7, 2023, Barbican Capital notified them of acquiring 4,770,269,843 shares, about 13.3% of the total. The CBN requires approval for any shareholding of 5% or more. On July 10, 2023, FBN Holdings sought CBN’s approval for this purchase.
The CBN requested documents from Barbican Capital for verification. FBN Holdings said, “The plaintiff failed to provide the necessary documents for the verification. Consequently, the CBN could only verify 3,110,400,619 shares out of the claimed 4,770,269,843 shares due to incomplete documentation.”
A CBN official, Orjiakor Nwabueze, Deputy Director of the Banking Supervision Department, stated, “The plaintiff submitted a claim of 5,450,999,924 shares. We could only verify 3,110,400,619 shares. The remaining 2,340,599,305 shares were not supported by sufficient evidence.”
The court has been asked to join the CBN as a third party to the case.
