At least 33 properties owned by the Federal Government in the United Kingdom have been identified and some are at risk of being forfeited due to a damage cost awarded to an energy firm, Eurafic Power Limited, by a London Court of International Arbitration which was endorsed by a UK High Court.
The development comes as Nigeria continues to battle another firm, P&ID, which is attempting to seize $9bn Nigerian assets.
In the fresh case with number CL-2017-000781 a UK High Court ordered the payment of $2.51m, £225, 949.19 and N57.9m (a combined N1.12bn based on the current Central Bank of Nigeria’s exchange rate).
According to documents made available to The PUNCH, the legal tussle emanated from a contract entered into by the Federal Government and Eurafric Power Limited in February 2013.
The firm entered into a share sale agreement with the Bureau of Public Enterprise and the Federal Ministry of Finance, both acting on behalf of the Federal Government.
The deal involved the purchase of Sapele Power Plc, owners of Sapele Power Station at the cost of $201m. The purchase included material properties and core assets of the company which listed ‘site land’ as one of its properties.
Pursuant to the share sale agreement, the National Council on Privatisation issued Share Certificate 0001 to Eurafric Power Limited on February 10, 2014, approving the sale of the Federal Government’s equity in Sapele Power Plc.
A Certificate of Handover with No 0002 also showed the handover of Sapele Power Plc to Eurafric Power Limited. All assets, liabilities, employees, rights and obligations of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria were also handed to Sapele Power Plc, now owned by Eurafric Power Limited.
The Punch