The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria has taken over assets belonging to Ike Nwabuoku, the Chief Promoter of Unicorn Place & Leisure Services Limited, owing to indebtedness of over N1.3bn.
The action follows an order of Honourable Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos division.
In compliance with the enforcement order, AMCON, on Friday, said it took effective possession of the two properties through its Debt Recovery Agent – Kayode Ajekigbe of Chris O. Okunowo & Co.
The properties are located at 1 and 2, Kwara Street, Osborne, Ikoyi, Lagos and Plot 23 Block 65, Lekki Peninsula Residential Scheme, both in Lagos State.
The Court also ordered that the bank accounts of the company and its major stakeholders, Ike Nwabuoku and one other Ifechukwu A. Onyema, be frozen, pending the final determination of the suit.
The case of Unicorn Place & Leisure Services Limited and its promoters has been interminable because the loan was purchased by AMCON during the first phase of its Eligible Bank Assets purchases from Keystone Bank since 2011.
Since the purchase, AMCON said on a statement that it had offered the obligor all sorts of concessions and explored all avenues to resolve the debt harmoniously.
However, it said the obligor and his company Unicorn Place & Leisure Services Limited had remained recalcitrant and unenthusiastic to repay the huge debt to AMCON.
Confirming that AMCON had enforced on the assets and frozen the accounts in line with the order of the court, Head, Corporate Communications Department of the Corporation, Jude Nwauzor, explained that all avenues of peaceful resolution were explored to no avail.
This, he said, made AMCON to take the hard decision, which led to the eventual takeover of the assets.
He said AMCON, before now, held several meetings with the obligor and arrived at agreements in principle, but the obligor always made a turnaround to default.
The development, he noted, left AMCON with no other option than to approach the court where it secured the order to take over.
He said AMCON would take over a lot more companies in the coming weeks, especially with the additional powers in its amended act, which President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law last year.
The Act will enable the Corporation to increase the speed of recovery of the over N5trillion that is still outstanding.
