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Wednesday, November 25, 2020 / 5:45 AM / by Ecobank Group/ Header
Image Credit: Sun News
RE : O & O Networks Limited V. Broad
Communications Ltd & 9 Others (Ecobank Nigeria Limited As 10th Respondent)
O&O Networks Limited is appealing an unfavourable
Court of Appeal Judgment that was delivered today and relating to shares that
it previously owned in Airtel Networks Limited.
Our external Solicitors have filed Notices of
Appeal against the judgments, alongside Motions to Stay
Execution of the Judgments. Parties to the
appeals, including Broad Communications Limited, have been served
with the court papers.
In August 2018, O & O Networks sold its
shares in Airtel Networks Limited for Naira 22.5 billion (approximately US$62.5
million) with the permission of the Federal High Court on June 7, 2018 and
subsequently in September 2018, Broad Communications Ltd filed an
interlocutory application requesting the Federal High Court of Nigeria to grant
an order directing O&O Networks to place Naira 22.5 billion (approximately
US$62 million) - the entire proceeds of the sale of the Airtel shares and an
amount which is significantly in excess of the plaintiff's total monetary claim
- into an escrow account in the name of the Chief Registrar of the Federal High
Court, pending the final determination of the substantive claim.
The Federal High Court of Nigeria granted the
interlocutory application on March 7, 2019. O & O Networks subsequently
filed a Notice of Appeal and an application to stay of execution of the Ruling.
The appeals against the Ruling were dismissed by the Court of Appeal today
24th November 2020. A further aappeal against the judgments,
alongside Motions to Stay Execution of the Judgments
have been filed to the Supreme Court today.
O&O Networks will prosecute the Supreme
Court appeal vigorously as it believes the substantive claim of Broad
Communications Ltd. is without merit whatsoever as O & O Networks sold the
shares validly and with the authorization of a court of law.
O&O Networks is a special purpose vehicle
previously owned by former Oceanic Bank International Limited ('Oceanic') and
which, in 2011, formed part of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated's (ETI)
acquisition of Oceanic.
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