…Unveils Plan To Go After Offshore Assets Of Recalcitrant Debtors
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria has said since the current management took over about five months ago, it has successfully recovered about N100bn from several high-profile debtors and also revised the sale of some assets.
This is just as it unfolded plans to engage international asset tracers to locate and recover nearly N5tn in outstanding debts, including assets hidden offshore by recalcitrant debtors.
The AMCON’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Gbenga Alade said these at a meeting in Lagos.
The Corporation had been under pressure in recent times to recover the toxic loans inherited from banks that were liquidated estimated at over N5tn.
With the recovery of about N1.96tn, it means that the Corporation is still indebted with about N3tn.
Of the total recovery, cash represents 43 per cent (N842.8bn), sale of bridged banks 13 per cent (N254.8bn) sale of proprietary shares 11 per cent (N215.6bn), clawback and repurchases nine per cent (N176.4) sale of property assets & rentals nine per cent (N176.4bn), investment income seven per cent(N137.2bn), while others represent about seven per cent (N137.2bn).
The nation’s banking sector ran into a financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 – a problem that was partly triggered by the global financial crisis.
AMCON’s seed investment was secured from the capital market through the Central Bank of Nigeria. Subsequently, its operations were funded with levies imposed on commercial banks.
The corporation is funded with 0.5 per cent charge on banks’ total assets on and off-balance sheet items. The levy is a statutory charge imposed by the CBN on all banks operating in the country.
Experts have said that with the performances of companies indebted to AMCON falling below par, even as they struggle to find their feet amid endless litigations, the corporation may lose some of the money spent repurchasing toxic assets from troubled banks and other entities.
This comes as values of the companies taken over by the corporation have been eroded by challenges, ranging from poor management to a harsh economic environment.
According to experts, some of the companies have become a burden to AMCON with the possibility of turning them into profitable ventures becoming increasingly difficult.
Speaking on the development, Alade said AMCON is also making efforts to revive dormant assets in the telecommunications sector and bring them back into operation, just like it is intervening in the power sector.
The CEO said some banks with around 400 branches across the country spend as much as N500bn annually on diesel for their generators.
The AMCON CEO said, “In the power sector, AMCON has made significant progress in one of the biggest distribution companies and an abandoned power project in Kaduna.
“A memorandum of understanding has been signed, and operations are expected to commence within the next six months.
“The corporation is also working on other assets in the power sector, particularly in Aba, as reliable power supply has become a major concern for small, medium, and large-scale enterprises.
“In the aviation sector, the corporation is addressing issues involving two airlines, with the hope of increasing Arik Airline’s fleet from three to eight aircraft by March 2025, which could help reduce airfares in the local aviation industry.”