Nigeria: Oando plc sell-off plans

Nigeria’s Oando plc has won shareholder approval to sell its gas and power, downstream, and energy services businesses. A shareholders meeting on 7 December approved plans for a rights issue to raise up to N80bn ($402m). Oando paid $1.5bn to acquire ConocoPhillips’ Nigerian operations in July 2014 in a bid to expand its upstream operations, but its cashflow has been hard hit by the lower oil price. The company, which is listed in Johannesburg and Lagos, while its upstream arm Oando Energy Resources is listed in Toronto, also won approval to issue N40bn of shares from its unissued share capital to swap debt for equity under agreements with two shareholders, Ocean and Oil Development Partners and QPR Limited.