Oando Agrees Out Of Court Settlement With Aggrieved Investors

Oando Plc has agreed to an out of court settlement with its aggrieved investors, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal and Ansbury Inc., a major investor in an investment vehicle, Ocean and Oil Development Partners Limited (OODP BVI).

It would be recalled that the aggrieved investors had filed petitions against Oando to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC), according to a statement sent to the Nigerian Exchange Group.

OODP BVI, the majority shareholder of Ocean and Oil Development Partners Nigeria Limited (OODP Nigeria) is owned by Wale Tinubu and Boyo. They acquired a 30 per cent controlling stake in Unipetrol Plc in 2000.

But a year later, the investment company increased its interest in Unipetrol to 42 per cent through an irredeemable convertible loan stock issue, before they led Unipetrol to acquire a 60 per cent controlling stake in Italian subsidiary rival Agip Nigeria Plc.

The acquisition led to the merger of Ship Nigeria and Unipetrol (which was initially controlled by the Nigerian government from 1976 to 1992, after selling off its 60 percent controlling interest to the Nigerian public) into Oando Plc in 2003.

Ansbury is owned by Gabriele Volpi, who is the main shareholder of Intels Nigeria Limited and chairman of the company. He had loaned $680 million to Tinubu and Boyo in 2012, to acquire ConocoPhillips oil and gas, which was later bought in 2014.