Insolvency & Business Recovery

Our Corporate and Insolvency Law Unit is a partner led team that provides swift and cost effective service to our various clients.  The team comprises professionals skilled in all aspects of debt recovery, business rescue and Insolvency work.  Their experience is not limited to advising in situations of actual insolvency but spans providing insolvency related tactical, preventive and transaction planning.

We assist debtors, creditors, other Insolvency Practitioners and regulatory authorities to find commercial solutions to their various Insolvency problems by making use of the relevant statutory mechanisms such as registration of relevant title documents, company restructuring, mediation, arbitration and as a last resort, litigation.

The team has long-standing connections with the major insolvency/accountancy firms in Nigeria and also works closely with other specialists outside the firm in order to ensure that the team is well prepared to handle transactions from a wide range of sectors; from retail to leasing, media to technology, manufacturing to insurance and financial service industries.

Types of assignments undertaken and services provided;

The services provided include:

• Corporate restructuring, reorganization and turnaround of financially distressed entities.
• Debt recovery, debt restructuring and debt trading.
• Receiverships
• Investor and secured/unsecured lender security analysis and option advice.
• Advising financially distressed companies, regarding formal and informal options including assistance with an initiation of appropriate steps and procedures.
• Advising directors of financially distressed companies and acting for directors in relation to disqualification or other insolvency proceedings commenced against them.
• Advising in relation to property insolvencies (e.g. for state governments, landlords, joint ventures and developers).
• Advising creditors generally (e.g insolvency options and retention of title issues) and arranging representation at, and report of, insolvency meetings.
• Solvent group reorganizations.
• Insolvency related litigation and investigations.
• Advising/acting for office holders on all aspects of formal insolvency.

Some recent banking and corporate recovery work carried out by the firm are listed hereunder;

• Acted for a consortium of 17 (seventeen) banks in the recovery of over N500,000,000.00 (five hundred million Naira) from Five Star Industries (in receivership) and in the process advised on a range of issues from asset sales to complex employment matters.  Also acted as counsel to the company in receivership in over 15 (fifteen) court cases.

• Acted for a consortium of 6 (six) banks in the recovery of over N30,000,000.00 (thirty million Naira) from Varaman Industries Limited, most of which has already been liquidated while the balance is subject of an almost concluded settlement between the parties.

• Acted as counsel for Union Bank Plc and Union Trustees Limited, unsecured lenders, against the Receiver/Manager of Nigeria Lamps Plc and Nigeria Industrial Development Bank (as it was then known) and devised a means whereby the Clients were able to rank parri passu with the secured lenders even though their security was at the time unregistered.

• Acted for Equitorial Trust Bank in the liquidation of Tate Industries Plc and also nominated to act as counsel to the official receiver with a member of our firm nominated on to the creditors committee.

• Acted as Receiver/Manager of Alpha Paints on behalf of Savannah Bank Plc which was being owed over N84,000,000.00 (eighty four million Naira) and concluded same within 6 (six) months without any litigation.

• Acted as Receiver of Biode Pharmaceuticals Company Limited with assets valued at over N300,000,000.00 (three hundred million Naira).

• Acting as a Debt Recovery Agent for First Bank of Nigeria Plc responsible for the head office debts since October 2001 and successfully concluded recoveries from over half of the customers assigned to us.

• Acted as counsel and restructuring consultants in the recovery, restructuring and successful turn around of Gateway Pharmaceutical Company Plc wholly owned by Ogun State Government, which company was prior to its insolvency a few years ago, the largest pharmaceutical company in West Africa with assets valued at over N600,000,000.00 (six hundred million Naira).

• Acted as counsel for United Bank for Africa Plc in the recovery of N47,012,291.56 (forty seven million, twelve thousand two hundred and ninety one Naira fifty six Kobo) from Payless Industrial and Commercial Services Limited (in receivership) and succeeded in recovering the amount owed to the Bank.

• Presently acting as one of the Joint Receivers to the Lagos State Government to recover outstanding land charges under the Land Use Charges Law (Law No. 11 of 2001) in excess of N1,000,000,000.00 (one billion Naira).

Although the firm has been involved in many complex syndicated loan recoveries, restructuring and recoveries that have been successfully concluded, it may be imprudent to provide evidence of such assignments since many of such successful recoveries have resulted in continued banking relationship with the lending bank.

For further information contact:
Seyi Akinwunmi, Uche Emerole or Tosin Baruwa