The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally opined on the chain of events that led to private equity firm Milost Global “terminating” its agreement with Unity Bank. Acting Director-General of the Commission, while being interviewed by Daily Trust stated that it was currently dissecting the transaction and would come out with a position.
“we will give you the information when we have it”
Prior to this
Milost Global in February, signified its intentions to conclude its acquisition of a large Nigerian bank following talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Reports then confirmed the bank in question was Unity. Unity bank then issued a statement denying any transaction had been concluded.
Milost last week released a statement terminating a planned $1 billion investment in tier two lender Unity bank. The firm took this decision due to this what it termed threat emails from an unnamed individual.
Unity bank then released a rebuttal issued a follow up statement insisting it had no agreement with Milost, hence the term termination did not apply.
Milost has been fairly active in the Nigerian space in recent times. In January, Milost in conjunction with, Isilo Capital Partners (its African subsidiary) acquired Primewaterview Holdings Nigeria Limited, at $1 billion. In December last year, it provided a $5 million facility to Primewaterview, for various projects.
In February, it signed a $350 million financing agreement with Japaul Oil and Maritime Services. In March, Resort Savings and Loans announced the private equity firm would invest $250 million comprising $100 million as equity capital and $150 million as debt.
