The Ibrus Struggle Over Ownership of Sheraton Hotels PLC

What started as rumours seems to have played into reality as the ownership tussle of the Sheraton Lagos Hotel and Towers and its owning company, Ikeja Hotels Plc, on Tuesday deepened. Different members of the Ibru family have declared authority over the business.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), a group led by Mrs Maiden Ibru, widow of late Guardian Publisher, Mr Alex Ibru, moved to hold an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting (EGM), Mr Goodie Ibru, the hotel Chairman, described the purported meeting as null and void.

Mrs Maiden Ibru during the burial of her late husband

The News Agency also reports that Mrs Ibru had earlier on Dec. 1, 2014 published an EGM notice of Ikeja Hotels Plc in the Guardian and Punch Newspapers, in an apparent bid to overhaul the company.

Her notice of EGM followed an earlier court order arising from an ex parte motion forcing the company to hold the meeting, on Jan. 6, 2015 at the Sheraton Hotel.

The Late Alex Ibru

On the other hand, the other members of the Ibru family, led by Goodie Ibru, got an ex parte injunction from the Federal High Court, Abuja, restraining Mrs

Ibru from calling an EGM or representing her late husband's investment vehicles holding shares in Ikeja Hotels Plc.

Goodie Ibru's group said that their ex parte motion was sequel to a bitter litigation between the children of his first wife, Mrs Helen Ibru, and Mrs Maiden, his second wife.

 In another swift development, some shareholders of the hotel, against a federal high court order, on Tuesday fired Goddie Ibru, as the chairman and director of the company, over corporate governance infractions.

NAN reports that the shareholders generally approved the sack of Ibru at an alleged EGM in Lagos, while appointing Mr Olumide Braithwaite and Mr Tunde Sarumi, as directors of the company.

KPMG Nigeria Ltd was also appointed to carry out a forensic audit of the management of the company from 1999 to 2014, when Ibru was its chairman.

KPMG was mandated to carry out a forensic audit of the share register and verification of the funding and payment for the shares of the company by holders, directly or indirectly amounting to two per cent or more.

The meeting was presided over by an interim Chairman appointed by the shareholders, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, the Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), also a shareholder in the hotel.

NAN also reports that the meeting was held amidst drama as the shareholders were barred from entering the premises of Sheraton Hotels following a court injunction granted Ibru by the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Mr Boniface Okezie, President, Progressive Shareholders of Nigeria, told NAN that the shareholders were on a rescue mission to ensure good corporate governance and avoid the collapse of the company.