Telecommunications company, 9mobile, has said It has nothing to do with the issue of N55 billion debt owed to Keystone Bank by its minority shareholder, Teleology Limited, as it was not a party to the case in court.
The company issued the disclaimer on Saturday in response to media reports claiming that 9mobile was ordered by a court to pay the N55 billion.
While describing the reports as ‘false and defamatory’ in its effect on the 9mobile corporate reputation, the company said,
“The Management of 9mobile wishes to inform the concerned public and critical stakeholders that, contrary to this misleading headline, Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), trading as 9mobile was neither a party to any suit nor affected by the order said to have been made against it as an entity.”
Keystone Bank v. Teleology Nigeria Limited
According to the company, the case filed in court was Keystone v. Teleology Limited and was not in any way linked to 9mobile. The company added that its name was never mentioned throughout the proceedings in court and wondered why it is now being linked after the court order.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no judgement was made against 9mobile and the attempt to link our corporate entity with a transaction by our minority shareholder, Teleology Nigeria Limited in its legal tussle with Keystone Bank, is false and maliciously misleading.
“9Mobile is under new ownership with a 95.5 % controlling stake in the business and has not been found liable for the action of its minority shareholder in the suit in question. Our business transformation programme has commenced and we are poised to reclaim our place in the market,” the company stated.
The court order
According to the reports, a Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos ordered Teleology Nigeria Limited to pay the sum of N55.7 billion owed to Keystone Bank Limited.
In an action filed on behalf of Keystone Bank Limited by its counsel, Bode Olanipekun, SAN, Teleology Nigeria Limited was accused of failing to service the loan facility which was deployed towards financing its acquisition of strategic assets in Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd., doing business as 9Mobile Network.
Olanipekun pointed out that despite the bank’s offer of restructuring the loan facility, Teleology failed to meet various conditions precedent, operation conditions, transaction dynamics, as well as other conditions stated in the restructuring letter.
According to Olanipekun, rather than receive payment on the defendant’s debt liabilities, the plaintiff received a presentation from a company called PAC Limited proposing amongst others, a debt sale and/or acquisition by Bankruptcy Remote Special Purpose Vehicle in a proposed transaction structure akin to a conversion of the debt to equity without any immediate down payment or repayment of the outstanding huge indebtedness of the defendant.
What you should know
Following its loan default to banks under its previous owners, 9mobile was acquired by Teleology Nigeria Limited in 2018 after a bidding process led by Barclays Africa, with the participation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and 13 Nigerian banks including GT Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and others.
The acquisition process was concluded with the initial deposit of $50 million and a further payment of $251 million as settlement to the banks who took over the company.
These payments, as well as further due diligence and technical evaluations, led to the clearance of the sale by the NCC, and the handover of 9mobile to the new owners, who announced a Board on 12 November 2018 with His Royal Highness Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero as the new Chairman.
While 9mobile has since undergone a series of changes in board members and management, the latest statement from 9mobile indicates that Teleology Nigeria Limited is no longer a majority shareholder in the company.