The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), has hinted that though there had been several investors both local and foreign coming for two airlines under its watch for core investment, their offers had been abysmal.
According to the Head, Corporate Communications, AMCON, Jude Nwauzor, “We need to get a good offer and reach an agreement before we can say we have concluded the transaction and this takes a long process”.
“It takes a long process for an investor to do due diligence before investing but there are interests,” he added.
While stressing that AMCON is interested in getting reliable and reputable investors that can further grow the airlines, the agency made it clear that such investors must be on ground before concluding the process of divesting from the airlines.
Business Hilights recalls that earlier in the year, the Managing Director of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru, had noted that the agency sits on substantial amount of assets, of which about 90 per cent was in the aviation sector.
According to him, it is the plan of the agency to find their buyers at least before the end of 2023/24 financial year.
Kuru had said that “AMCON will deal with some of those key assets very soon like the Peugeot Nigeria Limited in Kaduna, CDL, Aero Contractors, Arik Air and a host of others”.
Business Hilights recalls that AMCON had taken over Aero Contractors and Arik Air in February 2016 and February 2017, respectively, due to their unmanageable debt profiles and appointed receiver management.
Then, AMCON made it clear that the airlines would not be returned to their original owners until they cleared their indebtedness to the corporation and several other issues surrounding their inability to manage nonperforming loans (NPLs).
Though both airlines seem to have been stabilized earlier than planned, finding credible buyers with deep pockets have remained a big challenge for AMCON.
