Nigeria: Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring

Foreign investors engaging with Nigerian companies face unique challenges when recovering debts or protecting investments during financial distress. This comprehensive guide examines the legal framework under CAMA 2020, exploring restructuring mechanisms, enforcement of security interests, winding-up procedures, and cross-border insolvency considerations that shape debt recovery strategies in Nigeria's evolving commercial landscape.

A vessel under arrest is no longer earning, and every day it sits idle, it loses value. Ironically, vessel arrest, while intended to secure a lender’s recovery, can sometimes destroy the very asset from which that recovery depends.

When a company's assets are systematically stripped before creditors can enforce their rights, a critical legal question emerges: can creditors pursue independent claims against those responsible...

Nigeria's Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund was designed to avoid the failures of its predecessor, the Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund, which collapsed in the 1990s due to widespread defaults and poor enforcement practices. This briefing examines why vessel arrest, though legally available, should be treated as a last resort rather than a first response when CVFF loans enter distress, and how alternative recovery mechanisms can preserve the fund's revolving capital structure.

Foreign investors engaging with Nigerian companies face unique challenges when recovering debts or protecting investments during financial distress. This comprehensive guide examines the legal framework under CAMA 2020, exploring restructuring mechanisms, enforcement of security interests, winding-up procedures, and cross-border insolvency considerations that shape debt recovery strategies in Nigeria's evolving commercial landscape.

Nigeria's aviation market relies heavily on leased aircraft, creating significant opportunities for international lessors and financiers. However, foreign exchange volatility, regulatory complexities, and enforcement challenges mean that every aircraft lease must be structured with asset recovery in mind. The critical question is not whether a lease will perform as expected, but whether lessors can swiftly protect and recover their assets when transactions become distressed.