Abdulwasiu Sowami

Abdulwasiu Sowami moves to acquire Tunde Folawiyo’s Enyo

Nigerian oil company Ardova owned by AbdulWasiu Sowami announced its plans to acquire Enyo

comfort
By comfort
3 Min Read

In a bold move in January 2021, Nigerian oil company Ardova owned by AbdulWasiu Sowami announced its plans to acquire Enyo, an oil retail company with 93 outlets owned by mogul Tunde Folawiyo.

The company intended to finance the acquisition through a combination of debt and equity. It clarified that the Enyo deal was an acquisition, not a merger, as Ardova aimed to purchase the company entirely, as reported by Business Post.

This acquisition was part of Ardova’s strategy to expand its presence in Nigeria’s oil retail sector, augmenting its existing portfolio of over 450 outlets. Ardova anticipated that this acquisition would enable it to enhance its delivery capabilities through various channels and explore opportunities for digitalization.

Earlier Acquisitions

In June 2019, Prudent Energy (now Ardova), owned by Nigerian oil tycoon AbdulWasiu Sowami, completed the acquisition of a 74.02-percent majority equity stake in Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola’s Forte Oil, valued at about N64 billion ($168.2 million).

By October, Prudent Energy fully acquired Forte Oil through its investment company Ignite Investments and Commodities Limited. Otedola then informed the take-over offer to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as reported by Proshare. Subsequently, the company changed its name to Ardova Plc.

Ardova’s operations were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as movement restrictions hampered sales of its oil products. Nevertheless, it reached an agreement with Shell to be a leading distributor of its lubricants in November of the same year, according to Proshare.

Recently, The Nation reported that Ardova’s Board of Directors has sought shareholder approval for a new capital raise of up to N60 billion in debt capital. It filed with the NSE to establish a N60-billion bond issuance program, under which a series of bonds will be issued to investors.

Ardova’s 2020 performance

Despite the economic shocks that came with the pandemic, Ardova still made some profit in 2020. Its financial statements for the accounting year showed an increase in revenue of N181.9 billion ($478 million) compared to N176.6 billion ($464 million) in 2019, with a profit after tax of N1.9 billion.

For 2020, Ardova paid a dividend of N0.19 ($0.0050), which infuriated many shareholders and led to a decline in its share price.

Ardova, among the oil firms licensed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission to lift crude oil in May 2018, is slated to lift 950,000 barrels each over a two-year period from July 2018 to June 2020.

 

Share This Article
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *