The Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu, has acquired shares in the bank valued at N43.9 billion over a two-day period, further deepening his stake as the bank moves to strengthen its capital base.
Details of the transactions were disclosed in a regulatory filing submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Group on Monday by the Group Company Secretary, Bili Odum. According to the filing, the share purchases were made on May 29 and May 30, 2025.
Elumelu purchased a total of 1,267,669,350 shares at an average price of N34.64 per share, amounting to a cumulative transaction value of N43.91 billion.
The breakdown of the transaction shows that he acquired 50 million shares at prices ranging between N34.55 and N34.75 per share, and an additional 17,669,350 shares at N34.70 each.
This marks Elumelu’s second round of share purchases in May. On May 23, he acquired 45,034,044 shares at N34.30 per share, a deal valued at approximately N1.53 billion.
Elumelu had earlier announced, on May 25, his intention to further increase his stake in UBA, a move that aligns with the bank’s ongoing capitalisation drive.
The share purchases come at a strategic time, as UBA seeks to raise additional capital in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new directive requiring commercial banks with international licences to raise their capital base to N500 billion.
On April 25, Elumelu reaffirmed UBA’s commitment to meeting the CBN’s requirement, disclosing plans to raise N144.8 billion in the third quarter of 2025. This would bring the bank’s capital base up from its current level of N355.2 billion.
“We are confident that the full capital raise will be completed ahead of the CBN’s deadline,” Elumelu stated.