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The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria announced on Friday that it had taken over assets belonging to the Chief Promoter of Unicorn Place & Leisure Services Limited, Ike Nwabuoku, over N1.3bn debt.
A statement from AMCON said this followed the order of Honourable Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos division.
The corporation said in compliance to the enforcement order, it took effective possession of the two properties on June 25, 2020 through its debt recovery agent, Kayode Ajekigbe, of Chris O. Okunowo & Co.
According to the statement, the assets include properties situated at 1 and 2, Kwara Street, Osborne, Ikoyi, Lagos; and Plot 23 Block 65, Lekki Peninsula Residential Scheme, Lagos.
It said the court also ordered that the bank accounts of the company and its major stakeholders, Nwabuoku and Ifechukwu Onyema, be frozen pending the final determination of the suit.
The statement said the case of Unicorn Place & Leisure Services and its promoters had been interminable because the loan was purchased by AMCON during the first phase of its eligible bank assets purchases from Keystone Bank since 2011.
AMCON said since the purchase, it had offered the obligor all sorts of concessions and explored all avenues to resolve the debt harmoniously, but the obligor and his company had remained recalcitrant and unenthusiastic to repay the huge debt.
The Head, Corporate Communications Department, AMCON, Jude Nwauzor, explained that all avenues of peaceful resolution were explored to no avail before the corporation made the hard decision that led to the eventual takeover of the assets.
He said AMCON held several meetings with the obligor and arrived at agreements in principle, but the obligor always made a turnaround to default.
“Even with the rampaging cases of the coronavirus pandemic, AMCON from all indications has no intention of slowing down in achieving its recovery mandate,” he added.
AMCON disclosed its plans to take over more companies in the coming weeks, especially with the additional powers in its amended Act, which the Federal Government signed into law last year
It said the amendment was meant to enable it to increase the speed of recovery of the over N5tn that was still outstanding.