Bourse halts trade in Oando shares

Trading in Nigerian oil company Oando’s shares was halted on the Lagos and Johannesburg stock exchanges on Thursday morning following an order by Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A statement issued via the JSE’s Sens service said Oando’s listing had been suspended “pending clarification following the review of subsequent correspondence received on October 18 from the Nigerian Stock Exchange and SEC”.

Oando said it would “provide a full statement of the company’s position as soon as possible”.

On July 14, Oando said its attention had been drawn to a report released by Channels TV stating that Oando was “under a comprehensive investigation” by the SEC “following petitions filed by some foreign investors in Oando regarding its shareholding structure following the $1.65bn cash that Oando paid in June 2014 to acquire the oil production assets of Conoco-Phillips in Nigeria”. Oando said in July that it “understands that the SEC is in receipt of correspondence containing (in our opinion) unsubstantiated, misleading and defamatory claims with respect to various matters that had already received board, shareholder and, where required, SEC approval”.

On August 28, Oando issued a statement listing the investors who had petitioned the SEC as an institution called Ansbury as well as an individual called Alhaji Mangal.

Oando disputed Ansbury had a right to petition because it was not a direct investor in the oil group, owning shares via “a company domiciled in a jurisdiction outside Nigeria which in turn holds shares in a Nigerian investment company that is a shareholder in Oando”.

Mangal said in his petition to the SEC that he owned 17.9% of Oando, which the oil company disputed, saying its records showed he owned 4% directly, and had failed to disclose a 13.9% indirect holding as required by Nigerian law.