Again, court adjourns Oando’s stake acquisition case

The Federal High Court in Lagos has postponed the hearing for the petition filed by 14 shareholders of Oando Plc.

This marks the third time it has been adjourned this year.

This is according to a corporate disclosure filed on the NGX website and signed by Oando’s Company Secretary, Ayotola Jagun.

According to the disclosure, the adjournment was to allow the company to produce a report of compliance with the Court’s order dated June 7, 2022, which requires it to submit its Scheme of Arrangement document to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the NGX within 30 days, along with other instructions.

It was noted in the corporate disclosure, “The Petition was filed by Venue Construction Company Limited, acting by itself and for and on behalf of other minority shareholders of Oando, and is brought under sections 353, 354 and 355 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (“CAMA”).”

Oando’s majority shareholder, Ocean and Oil Development Partners Limited (“OODP”) and the company itself are listed as 1st and 2nd respondents in the suit.

The case against Oando Plc was filed on March 25, 2021, as the minority shareholders of the company filed a petition for Oando requesting a buyout of their entire shareholding either by OODP or Oando Plc.

However, Oando filed a cross-petition expressing its readiness to buy out all the minority shareholders of Oando via a court-ordered Scheme of Arrangement.