Energy magnate, Femi Otedola had won a $19 million arbitration award on the share purchase agreement (SPA) surrounding the sale of Forte Oil, now Ardova Plc.
The agreement was reached in response to a decision made by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in October, which mandated that Ignite Investments and Commodities Limited, Chairman Abdulwasiu Sowami of Ardova’s special purpose acquisition company, make SPA payments less the sum granted for one of Zenon Petroleum’s claims.
In a contract worth N64.9 billion to be paid in three installments, Ignite Investments 2019 and Forte Oil agreed that the former would sell Ignite 983 million shares, or a 75% stake, to the former. Later, the business would argue that Zenon Petroleum had violated its warranty with regard to the SPA, which prompted Ignite Investments to file a lawsuit in which it asserted claims against Zenon.
After an earlier attempt to settle the dispute was unsuccessful, Zenon filed a counterclaim against Ignite Investments in response to a claim made by the latter at the LCIA. Last October, the LCIA found in Zenon’s favor on three of the four claims.
To acquire their 25.9% holding (970.7 million shares) and take Ardova private, Mr. Sowami offered minority shareholders N17.38 per share, or N16.9 billion, in February.
“The offer price of ₦17.38 represents a premium of 22.44% and 24.38% to the 30-day and 60-day volume weighted average share price of ₦14.19 and ₦13.97 respectively, on 30 November 2022,” Ardova said in a statement.