The Chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Tony Elumelu, said the group encountered enormous challenges in the process of acquiring 45 per cent participating interest in Nigerian oil license OML 17, and related assets from Shell, Total and ENI.
He said it took eight years of ‘resilience, endurance, optimism, and persistence’ to finalised the deal, in post on the microblogging platform, Facebook on Monday.
According to Elumelu, his experiences in childhood shaped his outlook in life and embedded attributes such as grit, persistence, optimism and doggedness in him.
He said the deal worth $1.1bn is one of the largest oil and gas financings in Africa this decade, adding that Heir Holdimgs had sole operatorship of the licence.
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Elumelu added that the asset had a current production capacity of 27,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 1.2 billion boe, with an additional 1 billion boe resources of further exploration potential.
“Today, after eight years of resilience, endurance, optimism, and persistence, Heir Holdings, the leading African strategic investor, in partnership with our affiliated company Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (“Transcorp”), Nigeria’s largest publicly listed conglomerate, announced its acquisition of a 45 percent participating interest in Nigerian oil license OML 17, and related assets from Shell, Total and ENI,” he added.
He added, “Many times, along the way, we faced enormous obstacles that shook even the most confident of us, but never for one day did we turn back or lose faith. It simply did not occur to us to acknowledge the various setbacks we faced, as defeat.
“Instead, we went back to the drawing board, reflecting and refining, restrategising and even reversing former decisions made, deploying patience and positivity every step of the way, until we reached the target.
“Countless sleepless days that ran into weeks that gradually became months and years, culminating in this victory lap. Everything that we endured brought us to this moment. And for all of the sacrifices that we made, the prize is even more valuable.”
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He recalled that the group recently acquired Afam Power Plc and Afam Three Fast Power Limited in November for $300m and unveiled dual insurance companies, Heirs Insurance and Heirs Life in December.
Elumelu encouraged entrepreneurs not to give up on their dreams but embrace resilience, optimism, endurance, and persistence.
