The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) said it would hand over Arik Air and Aero Contractors to their original owners if they were able to offset the debts the airlines were owing the corporation.
While noting that it took over the companies in the transport sector reluctantly because it lacked the core competence to manage them, AMCON said its intervention was to rescue the companies from going under and to also recover the debts.
The Managing Director of AMCON, Mr. Ahmed Kuru, who disclosed this at the weekend in Lagos, said the corporation’s role in these airlines was like a rescue mission and it had no intention to manage them longer than necessary.
“AMCON’s intervention through the instrumentality of Receiver Management was first to stabilise the operations of the airlines, put them in a position to generate positive cash flow, then resolve their debt situation through either the owners paying the debts or the sale of the companies/underlining assets.
“Specifically, our intervention in Arik and Aero were intended to be value adding and non-destructive. It is noteworthy that the Corporation has adopted a similar approach to the revitalisation of Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN), which today is back to operation and assembling vehicles for the road transport sector,” he said.
AMCON intervened in the management of Aero Contractors about five years ago but fully took over the company in February 2016. The corporation took over the management of Arik Air in February 2017.
Kuru said at the point of intervening in Arik, the company was witnessing high spate of flight cancellations of up to 40 per cent, on-time performance (OTP) and the promptness of schedule flights had fallen to as low as 15 per cent, adding that the staff, including pilots were owed salaries, in some cases for up to six months
