Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has restructured its asset sales in a bid to facilitate speedy disposals.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of AMCON, Mr. Ahmed Kuru who disclosed this at a 2-day Asset Sales Strategy Retreat in Abuja, added that the Corporation has restructured its processes from within in anticipation of better outcomes in its asset resolution operations.
Represented by the Executive Director in charge of Operations, Mr. Aminu Ismail, Kuru said that part of the strategy was to expand the scope of its sales strategy by engaging professionals from the real estate sector including legal experts and regulatory stakeholders and cross-fertilise ideas on better measures to follow to enable AMCON dispose its huge assets at good value and in good time in line with AMCON mandate.
“As you may be aware, one of the key objectives of AMCON is to obtain the best achievable financial returns for all assets acquired. Following the acquisition of Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs), AMCON is now saddled with the responsibility for recovering the bad loans either through cash repayments or asset forfeitures/foreclosures. In fact, the bulk of recoveries, which have been recorded at AMCON are in form of asset recoveries. Considering the fact that AMCON’s obligations to the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) is in the form of cash repayment, AMCON therefore has the responsibility of converting the assets into cash in order to meet the repayment obligations,” he said.
Providing further clarifications to participants, Kuru added that AMCON from inception in 2010 to December 2017, recorded total recoveries of N731billion (excluding claw backs). Out of this amount, properties accounted for approximately 35 per cent. On the flip side, he stated that the Corporation noticed an increasing decline in its ability to dispose of assets at competitive market rates due to the several factors including inflation among other market dynamics.
With such indices, Kuru again said, “At AMCON, we have realized that we cannot continue to do business as usual – it has therefore become imperative for us to seek more innovative ways of converting our huge portfolio of assets into liquid cash as quickly as possible. We have convened some of the most resourceful real estate professionals and legal experts to this forum to help brainstorm through the issues and proffer practical solutions to the challenges confronting AMCON. We also invited critical regulatory stakeholders to contribute to the discourse toward finding workable solutions.”