5 People At The Forefront Of Trending HGL’s Success Story You Should Know

After years of low profile but high-impact operation that has made it a fixed part of the successes of rated companies such as Airtel Nigeria, Fan Milk Nigeria Plc, and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc – one of Nigeria’s leading food producing companies, HGL (Honeywell Group Limited) is trending for a mega-worth-deal that refused not to attract public interests.

Honeywell Group through a negotiated deal by investment vehicle, Barbican Capital Limited is now the largest shareholder by volume at FBN Holdings – the parent company of Nigeria’s oldest bank, First Bank – with a tremendous 15.1 % stake.

The deal described as the single biggest transaction in stock so far in 2023, is value beyond N105 Billion gives HGL possession of 4,770,269,843 additional shares in FBH Holdings.

SocietyNow.Ng’s checks reveal people at the forefront of the success story of the conglomerate that has disclosed the intention to work closely with stakeholders leveraging “shared vision to foster creation and enhancement of value for all” as the largest shareholder at FNH Holdings.

Team leader in many of HGL’s strategic investments and transactions is Obafemi Otudeko.

The keen horse rider and polo player is responsible for providing strategic direction and oversight to the Group’s portfolio companies and investments.

Married with two children he ha enjoyed a career spanning over twenty-five years.

Beginning his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Otudeko led HGL’s partnership with Bharti Airtel on Airtel Nigeria and subsequent multi-million-dollar divestment from the company, chaired the IPO committee responsible for the successful capital market listing and capital raising for Honeywell Flour Mills; coordinated the completion, capital raising, and the opening of the renowned five-star Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos (the first Radisson Blu hotel in West Africa) and more recently, the biggest capital market transaction of 2022 – the sale of Honeywell Flour Mills to Flour Mills of Nigeria according to a profile check by SocietyNow.Ng.

The avid literature and football fan, qualified chartered accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA) is the Managing Director at the big impact value adder that has adopted the approach of “long-term relationship, as customers, investors, and board members” to boost operations at FBN Holding.

He has served on the boards of influential companies such as Airtel Nigeria, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and is currently a non-executive director of Anchorage Leisures Ltd information at hand revealed.

Charged with the more specific function of overseeing the group’s portfolio by investing, monitoring and managing the Group’s funds and portfolio companies is Otu Hughes.

With over 25 year of specialised knowledge in operations and strategy, principal investing, mergers  and  acquisitions, and capital raising to his name, Hughes expertise covers the United States  and  sub-Saharan Africa.

The holder of a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Howard University (Honors Program) and an MBA from Harvard Business School previously served as a partner at Iroko Capital where he led the investment banking and financial advisory business of the company.

A former Chief Operating Officer of Oceanic Capital Company Limited and Head of the Investment Banking Group, he is the  Chief Investment Officer at HGL Limited.

Hughes is credited with successfully advising “on over USD12bn of mergers and acquisitions; and USD2bn of financings.”

With nearly three decades of experience in company secretarial, corporate governance, litigation, and commercial law practices and exceptional skills in deal advisory and structuring as well as reputation as a trusted legal expert in significant cross-border transactions to her name, Oluwayemisi Busari is the senior adviser, Government Relations at HGL.

A member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Federation of International Women Lawyers, the Institute of Directors (IOD), and the Institute of Corporate Governance, Busari has a strong passion for counseling and mentoring young individuals .

A mother of three, she has fingerprints on the capital raising for a multimillion-dollar investment in Nigeria’s first GSM operator, project finance legal advisory for a USD100 million national power electrification and transmission project, and successful negotiations of joint ventures and partnerships with international counterparts.

Also at the forefront of the institution, bringing over 150-years combined experience in various professional qualifications and specialties to bear on the operations of FBN Holdings as the biggest shareholder is Kemi Adeoye, the financial strategist and advisor with in-depth expertise in finance and experience that cuts across multiple industries.

The possessor of a first-class bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Oxford Brookes University and an MBA from the Lagos Business School is the Chief Financial Officer at the conglomerate with diversified businesses such as foods and agriculture, telecommunication and infrastructure, real estate and financial services.

She is credited with playing a “pivotal role in HGL’s valuable investments and initiatives including developing and owning the partnership with the Bank of Industry, providing financial advisory on the purchase of a majority stake in a port operations company, and leading the finance and tax work-stream on the Honeywell Flour Mills divestment” according to checks by SocietyNow.Ng.

Recently appointed a non-executive director on the board of Ikeja Hotel Plc, Adeoye’s job function at HGL includes providing guidance and expertise in key financial decisions, ensuring the company’s financial objectives are aligned with its broader goals – and also responsible for  risk management and ensuring the adequacy and effectiveness of controls and Internal Audit across the Group.

Before joining Honeywell Group in 2006, Adeoye, a member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), worked with Baker Tilly where she led several audit engagements with local and multinational clients across different business sectors.

In her role as overseer of various functions that include strategy and project execution, human resources, information technology, communications, administration, and facilities management, Tomi Otudeko is the is Head, Corporate Services at Honeywell Group.

A programme delivery expert with deep expertise in operational excellence, the Prince2 (Practitioner) certified Project Manager joined the Group in November 2017 to help set up Itanna, Honeywell Group’s corporate venture investing platform.

Before then, “she led the implementation of integration activities for First Bank of Nigeria across 6 African countries and was Head, International Banking Coordination for its International Business: coordinating the implementation of strategic initiatives, business development and group management activities across multiple regions. Before joining First Bank, she was an Investment Manager at Stanbic IBTC Asset Management and advised various individual and corporate clients on financial management and investments. She also worked at IBM UK as a Business Development Specialist with a focus on process/service improvement through Strategic Outsourcing” information on her profile revealed.

The Otudeko who Tomi holds an LLB in Law from King’s College London and an MSc in Economics with Merit from the University of Manchester also has a Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from Stanford University and recently completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School SocietyNow.Ng learned.

The deal which transformed Honeywell Group Limited into largest shareholder has soared FBN Holdings stock to its highest value in the last 52 weeks as part of the apparent and inherent values as integration of “approaches and interests” gets underway SocietyNow.Ng gathered.

The conglomerate founded by Obafoluke “Oba” Otudeko, the legendary investor, as a trading enterprise in 1972 remains the on the lips of many beyond the investors community as its N105Billion deal continues so boost FBN Holdings’ value across financial markets.