Posted by Natalie Blackwood -
October 30, 2014 -
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Femi Otedola of Nigeria appeared on Forbes' billionaires list in 2009 but dropped out of the rankings shortly afterwards as shares of his African Petroleum (now called Forte Oil) plunged more than 80% following a personal feud with Aliko Dangote. Otedola claimed that Dangote, the continent's richest man and president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, had manipulated African Petroleum shares to settle personal scores. The two have since become friends. In 2011, it emerged that Otedola was one of Nigeria's biggest debtors and owed banks as much as $900 million. In October 2012, he paid off his debts completely, according to both Forte Oil and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, an institution formed by the Central Bank with backing from the Nigerian government to resolve the non-performing loan assets of Nigerian banks. Otedola's Zenon Petroleum is one of the largest diesel distributors in Nigeria, doing over $2 billion in annual sales. Shares of publicly traded petroleum marketing company Forte Oil, where he is the controlling shareholder, are up an astounding amount, more than seven fold in the past year, a very large rise in the wake of a relatively smaller revenue increase. Forte Oil's revenues fell 22% in 2012 from the previous year to $568 million (90.98 billion Naira). Revenues did rise in the first half of 2013 to $375 million (59.96 billion Naira). Some media reports tie the stock surge to an increase in profits and the recent purchase of a power plant.
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