Fakoyejo OlalekanThe Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Olusegun Ogunsanya, has sold 13.34 per cent of his stake in the telecommunications company, according to corporate filings obtained on Monday.
Prime Business Africa gathered from the corporate document obtained from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) that Ogunsanya sold 666,174 shares on 4 August 2023.
He sold the shares on the London Stock Exchange, where Airtel Africa is listed, to take out £757,440 from his total investment in the company.
This means Ogunsanya sold N726.30 worth of shares according to the official exchange rate or N852.34 million worth of shares based on the black market rate of the British pound.
The sell-off by Ogunsanya reduced his shares in Airtel Africa from 4.99 million to 4.32 million shares, valued at £5.10 million or N6.06 billion when pegged to the black market’s rate of N1188.9/£1.
Ogunsanya took out the £757,440 to purchase a property in an undisclosed location, Prime Business Africa gathered from a statement seen.
“Airtel Africa announces the following transaction in the Company’s ordinary shares (“Ordinary Shares”) by Olusegun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer and a PDMR of the Company.
“This sale of Ordinary Shares is to be used to fund a property purchase by Mr Ogunsanya. Following this transaction Mr Ogunsanya holds 4,325,282 Ordinary Shares in Airtel Africa,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, Prime Business Africa previously reported that in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, Airtel Africa recorded a foreign exchange loss of $471 million.
Ogunsanya, in the company’s financial statement, disclosed the impact, stating “Despite the strong operating performance, our results have been impacted by foreign exchange headwinds.
“This quarter saw the announcement of the change to the FX market in Nigeria which resulted in a significant naira devaluation,” he said.
He further affirmed that: “We have welcomed this reform as very positive for the medium and long-term development of our business in Nigeria, our largest market.
“However, in the reporting period the devaluation has had a material impact on our results. Over the last few years, we have actively reduced our FX exposure across the Group, and this will continue to be a focus area in the future to limit the impact of any future devaluation.”
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