Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc has reacted to media reports about the supposed takeover of its assets by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON.
In a statement that was signed by the Company Secretary, Yetunde Fashesin-Sousa, Deap Capital admitted that it is indebted to AMCON to the tune of N1.6 billion. It was also confirmed that AMCON owns a 20% equity stake in the fund management firm.
Note that the indebtedness arose after AMCON took over ownership of certain banks. Apparently, these are banks that Deap Capital originally owed. However, following the transfer of the unnamed banks’ assets to AMCON, the debts were also transferred alongside.
Meanwhile, AMCON had dragged the company before the Federal High Court in Lagos in a bid to recover the debt. A ruling on the case, which was delivered on January 28 by the Hon Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, was in AMCON’s favour.
Following the ruling, AMCON began the process of recovering the debt from Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc. The company said it has been cooperating in this regard by working towards repaying the debt.
The company also clarified that the assets that were taken over by AMCON belonged to its former directors whose names were not mentioned. Nairametrics could not verify if these directors are among those who were recently reinstated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC. But we do know that AMCON had obtained a court order to attach the ‘former directors’ assets’ in its attempt to recover the N1.6 billion debt.
In the meantime, Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc said it is committed to resolving its operational challenges, including the recovery of its operational license and profitability issues. The company’s latest earnings report (for its Q1 period ended December 31st, 2019) showed a total income of N1 billion. There was also a N6.3 million loss for the period under review.
Deap Capital’s stock opened today’s trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with a share price of N0.30. Year to date, the stock has declined by some -18%.
