By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nigerian oil mogul, Mr Femi Otedola, has announced the completion of the sale of his energy company, Forte Oil Plc.
In a post on his verified Instagram page on Wednesday, the Chairman of Forte Oil Plc, a firm listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), said he was exiting the business so as to focus on his power generation ventures, Geregu Power Plc.
In December 2018, Forte Oil said Mr Otedola, its controlling shareholder, was divesting his holdings in the company to another oil 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,” Forte Oil had stated in a notice to the NSE.
In his message today, the oil magnate said, “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.”
Adedapo Adesanya