Headed by Sayyu Dantata, half-brother of business magnate, Alhadji Aliko Dangote, MRS has been unable to raise money in Nigeria ever since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) forbade banks to lend to it.
Frustration and disarray among top management staff on the precarious financial situation of MRS Group and fears of a shutdown of operations prompted the finance director of MRS Group, Olumide Phillips, to seek alternative sources of cash. Huhuonline.com has learnt from dependable sources in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan that Olumide Phillips was in Ivory Coast in September for talks with the management of PetroCI to cough out the badly needed cash to keep the company afloat.
There were brave talk about MRS’ rising economic momentum and hopes for more innovative development ideas when the group bought over TEXACO and signed a partnership with PetroCI in Corlay Global which bought out the retail assets of Chevron in 2009 for $600 million.
But events took a turn for the worst following a series of bad managerial decisions that has left MRS, on the brink of bankruptcy. Headed by Sayyu Dantata, half-brother of business magnate, Alhadji Aliko Dangote, MRS has been unable to raise money in Nigeria ever since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) forbade banks to lend to it. MRS’ outstanding debts were transferred some months ago to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the government agency that manages the debts of insolvent private companies.
Huhuonline.com understands that Olumide Phillips’ first concern was to confirm that the partnership between MRS and PetroCI in Corlay Global still held good and that the Ivorian company didn’t plan to jump ship, as had been envisaged during in-house deliberations at the company recently.
But Philips went to Abidjan principally to beg for cash from PetroCI, arguing that when Corlay Global bought out the retail assets of Chevron in 2009 for $600 million, the Ivoirians hadn’t paid enough, and that they should now put money into the sinking MRS coffers and rescue the company from collapse. While PetroCI’s managing director, Daniel Gnangni, didn’t refuse that appeal he called for changes in MRS’ management methods, sources told Huhuonline.com.
To which end, the Guinea-born businessman Mamadi Diane, who helped to forge ties between President Goodluck Jonathan and Alassane Ouattara, in the opening months of the post-electoral crisis in Ivory Coast, will handle the Corlay Global issue on behalf of Ouattara.
Holding dual U.S-Guinea citizenship, Diane is chairman of the firm Amex International that specializes in international finance and trade. He is well connected in the United States, being close to such figures as Adrian Fenty, former Democrat mayor of Washington. Ouattara has known Diane since the 1990s when the current president was prime minister under Felix Houphouet-Boigny in the 1990s. Diane has been of considerable help to Ouattara with his contacts in the USA.
