Otedola exits Forte Oil, shifts attention to Geregu Power

The Chairman of Forte Oil, Mr Femi Otedola, on Wednesday, announced his final exit from the oil company and now to concentrate on Geregu Power Plc which he acquired in 2013.

The billionaire businessman who took to social media to announce his exit from the company in a message posted on his verified Instagram page, said he has divested from the business and will now concentrate on his power generation business.

“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,” Otedola wrote on his social media handle.

Otedola sold his 75 percent majority stake in the oil marketing company to Prudent Energy, a local oil trading firm.

Last December, Forte Oil has informed the investing public of the move by the billionaire businessman of the move to sell off its shares in the oil firm to an indigenous firm.

“Forte Oil Plc hereby notifies the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Securities and Exchange Commission, shareholders and the investing community that its majority shareholder, Mr Femi Otedola, has reached an agreement with the Prudent Energy team, investing through Ignite Investments and Commodities Limited, to divest of his full 75 percent direct and indirect shareholding in the company’s downstream business,”

However, Otedola did not disclose how much he made from the deal and when it was finalised in his celebrated post on the Instagram middle week.

But the businessman may have invested part of his exit fee on the purchase of Geregu Power Plc, which was part of the subsidiaries of Forte Oil.

Forte Oil, was formerly British Petroleum until the federal government took over the oil company during the fight to free South Africa from White minority rule and renamed it African Petroleum Plc.

Forte Oil operates mostly in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

The federal government later divested from African Petroleum Plc during the privatisation programme to Sodiq Oil, linked to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar before Otedola group later took over the oil firm and renamed it Forte Oil.

“We wish our successors the very best and urge them to build on our legacies which have been established since 1964,” he wrote.

Forte Oil is yet to formally file a regulatory notice on the final disengagement of its former chairman and majority shareholder from the company.