Thisday Lawyer has featured Dr Kubi Udofia’s discussion of a receiver/manager’s discretion to disregard company contracts against the background of the Intercontinental Lagos Hotel (now rebranded Lagos Continental Hotel) case. The renaming of the 358-room five-star hotel followed the termination of a six-year Hotel Management Agreement (“HMA”) between the hotel owners, Milan Industries Ltd (Milan) and multinational hotels company, Intercontinental Hotels Group (“IHG”).
In May 2017, a Federal High Court ordered the takeover of the hotel by a receiver/manager appointed by Skye Bank Plc. Court processes showed that Skye Bank granted Milan loan facilities of US$29.8million and NGN3.8billion and an overdraft facility of NGN500million. The facilities were to finance the construction of the hotel. The loans were secured by a deed of legal mortgage which covered the hotel. Milan reportedly defaulted resulting in the appointment of the receiver/manager. IHG subsequently terminated the HMA after a dispute with the receiver/manager. [more]
