Saudi investor sues Med-View over sale of asset

Saudi Arabian investor, Abdulmohsen Al-Thunnayan, has filed a suit at the Federal High Court Lagos, challenging the move by Med-View Airline Plc to sell-off some assets of the distressed carrier.

The investor, who also doubles as the Chairman of Med-View, said he was neither aware of the board meeting nor a party to the decision to sell two aircraft as part of measures to pay some debts and revive the commercial aircraft.

The development, The Guardian learnt, has stalled an earlier plan to dispose of Boeing 737-400 aircraft with registration 5N-MAA in Estonia and another, 5N-MAB, in Lagos.

Recall that the airline had since last year quit operations when all its aircraft went out of service, and the relationship between the Chairman and his Managing Director, Muneer Bankole, went sour.

In a letter issued on behalf of Al-Thunnayan, the Saudi investor was unaware of the sale plans, and had gone ahead to challenge the move in a court of law.

The letter signed by counsel to Al-Thunnayan, ALP NIG & Co., indicated that the matter was currently the subject of Suit No: FHC/L/CS/34/2020 pending at the Lagos Federal High Court.

“Sheikh Abdulmohsen Al-Thunnayan holds N3.510 billion shares in Med-View Airlines, representing 36 per cent of the total shares in the company. Sheikh Abdulmohsen Al-Thunnayan is currently in dispute with the company over the company’s failure to remit dividends due to him on his investment in Med-View Airline and to render a proper account of the company’s affairs,” the memo read in part.

According to the publication, “Al-Thunnayan wishes to inform the general public that he did not receive notice of the meeting where the decision was purportedly taken and has instructed his legal team to take steps to challenge the move.

“Persons seeking to purchase these aircraft, or any other property belonging to Med-View Airline, and the general public, are hereby put on notice that any dealings they may have in that regard may form part of the aforementioned lawsuit.”

The airlines recently announced to its shareholders, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as well as other Board members at a meeting that it has concluded plans to sell two of its Boeing aircraft as part of efforts to liquidate some of its indebtedness and inject funds to jump-start its operations post COVID-19.

At the meeting, the airline also accepted the resignation of two of its directors, Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi and Oladele Kachet Oyedele.