No Court Order Forbids Acquisition Deal, says Flour Mills, Honeywell

Flour Mills Nigeria (FMN) Plc and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (HFMP) say there is no breach of a court order in the proposed acquisition deal.

Joseph Umolu, FMN secretary, said this in a corporate filing on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Wednesday.

On Monday, Flour Mills informed investors that it had signed an agreement to acquire a 71.69 percent stake from Honeywell Flour Mills and a 5.06 percent FBN Holdings equity in Honeywell Flour Mills.

According to Umolu, the recent announcement by the group to assume the majority shareholder status of Honeywell was made after carrying out necessary due diligence and obtaining appropriate legal guidance. “Consequently, FMN confirms that this agreement is not in breach of any subsisting order of court in matters relating to any third party,” Umolu said

”This further assurance has become necessary in view of the publication captioned ‘Ecobank warns against the acquisition of Honeywell Flour Mills, alleges company facing winding-up proceedings.’”

“Stakeholders are, therefore, urged to maintain their trust in FMN’s management, whose actions are guided by global best practices, as we work diligently to maintain the group’s sterling reputation as one of Nigeria’s leading and oldest agro-allied companies.”

According to a statement signed by Yewande Giwa, HFMP company secretary, there is also pending court order restraining trading in the shares of HFMP.

“It is pertinent to set the record straight that there is no winding up petition currently pending or live against HFMP in any court in Nigeria.”

“There is also no pending court order restraining trading in the shares of HFMP or inhibiting HFMP or its owners from dealing in its assets. “The issue as to whether HFMP is indebted to Ecobank is still before the courts and the final decision remains the exclusive preserve of the courts.”

“It is also important to state that the Court of Appeal judgement being referred to in the reports did not declare HFMP to be indebted to Ecobank.”

Ecobank Nigeria Plc had advised Flour Mills of Nigeria to refrain from the proposed acquisition of major stake in Honeywell Flour Mills claiming that Honeywell Group, the principal company, had not been paying up its loans to the bank.