AMCON Recovers N740bn from Debtors, Trims Losses to N16bn Cont’dfromPg.6

He pointed out that the corporation was still holding a substantial amount of real estate assets due to the economic situation and low level of activity in the real estate market.

“If we sell them today, we are going to record a lot of losses. So, we are holding them expecting that when the economy picks up, the real estate market would also start booming and then we would be able to quickly sell.

“If we dispose them now, we might not be able to recover the value,” he said. According to him, AMCON is currently working with the Judiciary and the legislature to see areas of the AMCON Act that can be amended.

“The National Assembly has been very supportive. So, we are trying to see how we can have a Special Tribunal where we can have some specific High Courts and Judges that are known with high integrity, so that our cases would be on the fast track.

“We have now decided to change our strategy from restructuring and resolution to recovery. Now, when we confiscate the asset, we look for buyers.

“That is because we are almost approaching our sun set period, which is 2023. If at this stage we still have a lot of properties that we have foreclosed on, when is it that we are going to do that. Some of them don’t have ability to repay, while some have moved to other businesses. So, the only thing left for us now is to change our strategy in terms of recovery.

“That is why we are putting a lot of efforts on our Asset Management Partners. We have less than 350 obligors that account for more than 80 per cent of our outstanding liabilities.

“So, if we can focus on the 350 and we can achieve 40 per cent recovery, that would take us above the global standard for asset management corporation,” he added.