REVEALED: Peter Obi administration’s $12.24m stake in International Breweries now worth $5.38m
In a 2018 interview, Peter Obi said he invested $20 million in International Breweries on behalf of Anambra state as a governor.
Obi’s claim was in response to questions on economic development, Anambra politics and his presidential ambition.
“… Anambra state is the single-highest shareholder in that facility. I invested in it, over $20 million,” Obi had said.
“It is worth almost $100 [million] today. That’s what government should do.”
TheCable had previously fact-checked some of the claims.
Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, also debunked a recent statement ascribed to him regarding the investment.
International Breweries (IB) Plc is a subsidiary of the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) — a multinational drink and brewing giant based in Leuven, Belgium.
In its 2021 audited financial statement, the company said it holds 43 percent economic interest in International Breweries Plc, a publicly listed company in Nigeria.
According to a report by The Nation, AB InBev merged its Nigerian operations under a single corporate entity in 2017. It had three indirect Nigerian subsidiaries — International Breweries Plc, Intafact Beverages Limited and Pabod Breweries Limited. SABMiller Nigeria Holdings BV — another subsidiary of AB InBev — was also a major stakeholder in Intafact and Pabod.
ANAMBRA’S INVESTMENT
In a statement made available to TheCable on Tuesday, Ifeatu Onejeme, Anambra’s commissioner of finance, confirmed that Peter Obi’s administration invested the sum of N1,955,535,247.00 (an equivalent of approximately $12,616,356.43 at the then average CBN exchange rate of N155.00/$1) in Intafact Beverages Limited, a green-field brewery set up in Onitsha by SABMiller Breweries of South Africa in 2012.
Onejeme added that the state government still holds 407,321,264 ordinary shares of International Breweries Plc in exchange for the Intafact Beverages Limited investment.
“Based on the NGX closing price of N5.50 as of 20/6/22, these shares were valued at N2,240,266,952 on that date,” the statement reads in part.
“Based on the Central Bank of Nigeria I&E exchange rate of N415.75/US$1.00 on same June 20, 2022, this investment was valued at an equivalent of approximately US$5,388,495.37 (and at N604/$1.00 parallel market rate, only US$3,709,051.24).”
IB PLC’S SHAREHOLDERS & THEIR CURRENT STAKES
Checks by TheCable showed that International Breweries has two major shareholders with stakes above 5 percent. The highest shareholder is AB INBEV Nigeria Holdings BV with 72.03 percent followed by Brauhaase International Management GMBH with 8.85 percent. These details are contained in the company’s financial report dated March 2022.
- AB INBEV NIGERIA HOLDINGS BV — 78.44%.
- BRAUHAASE INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT GMBH — 8.85%
- FREE FLOAT — 11.03%.
Further checks showed that these individuals/ special purpose vehicles (a subsidiary company that is formed to undertake a specific business purpose) are part of the company’s minority stakeholders. They include:
- Olugbenga Awomolo – 1.24%.
- Michael Onochie Ajukwu – 0.27%.
- Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe – 0.15%.
- Akintoye Sunday Omole – 0.01%.
- Peter Nwokike Anugwu – 0.02%.
According to its financial records, International Breweries Plc returned negative bottom-line figures in the last three years. These are mainly due to high operational costs, FX fluctuations and supply chain constraints.
The value dropped because of the drop in value of the naira in the exchange market. Tells us why it is necessary to keep maintain balance of trade for the naira to firm up among other currencies. Only non-sentimental policy decisions can do it.
Peter Obi was partially correct with his statement. In 2012, the Peter Obi Administration invested the sum of N1,955,535,247.00 (approx. US$12.6m) in Intafact which gave the state about 10% stake in the company.
The total issued shares of Intafact prior to its merger with International Breweries were 1,400 ordinary shares of N100,000 each. During the merger with International Breweries the share exchange ratio of 29.09 million ordinary shares of International Breweries to 10 ordinary shares of Intafact was used for the merger. The exchange gave Intafact shareholders a total of 1400×29.09×1000000/10 = 4.073 billion shares. Anambra state got 407,321,264 shares for its 10% shareholding.
The interview was granted in 2018 before the commissioning of International Breweries $250 million factory situated at Km 3, Flowergate Industrial Scheme, Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway, Ogun State.
At that time, International Breweries, in 2018 they had a total of 8,595,861,936 outstanding shares which gave Anambra State a stake of 4.7% in the company. The shares of the company traded at an average of N44 per share on the floors of Nigerian Stock Exchange. On Tuesday, 22 May 2018, International Breweries traded at N51.8 per share meaning the state’s investment was worth about N21.1b. So, the state’s investment of N1.96b ($12.6m) and in 2018 when the interview was granted, was almost 10.8 times the initial investment. I believe Mr. Peter Obi also translated the dollar equivalent to $12.6 x 10.8 = $136m which was “over $100m” that he mentioned in the interview.
However, the average exchange rate in 2018 was about N360/$ and the true worth of the investment was $58.6m. Unfortunately, in 2020 International Breweries offered a Right Issues to its shareholders to increase its shares from 8,595,861,936 to 26,862,065,850. Based on that offer, the share price was also adjusted downwards to about N4.5 in 2020. Unfortunately Anambra State didn’t participate in the Right Issues and their holding declined from 4.7% to 1.51%. The share price of the company is currently about N5.5 per share but the exchange rate has declined to N415.75/$ on and the investment is currently valued at about $5.39m as stated by the Cable and other news streams.