Honeywell Does Not Owe Ecobank N13.5 Billion – Fact Checker

Independent online media fact-checking platform, The Cable, has claimed that the assertion by Ecobank Nigeria Limited that the Supreme Court declared that Honeywell Flour Mills Plc is indebted to it in the sum of N13.5 billion is incorrect.

This claim is contained in the popular investigative series ‘Fact Check’, released by The Cable on July 27, 2023. The investigation delved into the ongoing dispute between Ecobank and billionaire businessman, Oba Otudeko’s companies.

Barbican Capital Limited, an affiliate of Honeywell Group Limited (HGL), acquired 4.7 billion shares of FBN Holdings Plc (FBNH), the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria.

According to a notice filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Honeywell Group and its affiliates acquired 4,770,269,843 units of FBN Holdings’ shares. The shares represent over 13 per cent of the stakes in FBN.

Chronicling the series of events that led to the case, the report stretched back over a decade to 2012, when three companies –  Anchorage Leisures Limited, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and Siloam Global Services – borrowed from defunct Oceanic Bank (now Ecobank).

The report alleged that on July 22, 2013, an agreement was reached that the companies would jointly pay N3.5 billion in full and final settlement of their indebtedness to Ecobank.

The sum of N3.5 billion was paid, and a letter was written to the bank confirming the terms of the agreement.

The bank was said to have responded the same day, confirming the payment,” the article reads.

 The report pointed at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Bankers’ Committee sub-committee on ethics and professionalism and the Federal High Court’s verdicts in favour of the Otudeko-run companies, as well as the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court’s judgements in favour of Ecobank.

In its conclusion, the report finds that “there was no determination as to the amount outstanding, but the court dismissed Honeywell’s appeal and ordered that the sum of N3 million be paid to the bank.

“Although the Supreme Court determined that Otudeko’s companies owe Ecobank, it did not state any amount. Ecobank’s claim that the apex court ruled that there is an N13.5 billion debt is incorrect.”

On Tuesday, July 18, the Federal High Court ruled that Ecobank is to pay the sum of N72 billion in favour of Honeywell as damages for an illegal ex parte order.