Troubled City businessman Patrict Bitature has admitted in a public statement that he legally borrowed money from Vantage Mezzanine contrary to his lawyer Fred Muwema who said Vantage was a ghost company.
Bitature who has come under public criticism says he is willing to settle the loan with Vantage despite the ongoing private prosecution initiated by Vantage.
“As part of its business expansion plans, Simba approached Vantage Capital in 2014, seeking an alternative to the more common and mainstream pure debt funding for business expansion. Consequently, a “Mezzanine Term Facility Agreement (MFTA)” was signed between Vantage Mezzanine Fund II partnership (“Vantage”) and Simba Properties Investment Company (Simba) for $10,000,000 to fund projects within the Group. These projects included the completion of Protea by Marriott Skyz Hotel and working Capital for our ElectroMaxx power Subsidiary. The agreement had a 3- year Moratorium (freeze) for repayment of both the principal and interest.”
Below is the statment in full
By Patrick Bitature
The last few days have been quite challenging on me, family, colleagues, business partners, staff and other Simba Group stakeholders. Ugandan media has recently awashed news reports about Members of Simba Group. These attacks against Simba Group are an affront to our economic prospects as they inhibit the capacity of local entrepreneurs to exploit local and international opportunities.
Whilst I may be mindful of the fact that certain aspects of this matter are still pending in the courts and or dispute resolution avenues, I have, after careful reflection, elected to share this statement with you.
This statement is issued without prejudice and I will attempt to outline facts of the matter at hand and trace the genesis of our engagement and apparent disagreement with one of my business partners. This note also serves as a reassurance to all our business partners, affiliates, and stokehold that I remain committed to bring the issues at hand to a close justly, fairly and as expeditiously as possible.
The Genesis
As part of its business expansion plans, Simba approached Vantage Capital in 2014, seeking an alternative to the more common and mainstream pure debt funding for business expansion. Consequently, a “Mezzanine Term Facility Agreement (MFTA)” was signed between Vantage Mezzanine Fund II partnership (“Vantage”) and Simba Properties Investment Company (Simba) for $10,000,000 to fund projects within the Group. These projects included the completion of Protea by Marriott Skyz Hotel and working Capital for our ElectroMaxx power Subsidiary. The agreement had a 3- year Moratorium (freeze) for repayment of both the principal and interest.
Simba was confident of the economic prospects in the country as Uganda had discovered 6.5milionbarrels of oil reserves. Like many other businesses players in Uganda, we were expecting an economic upturn, and therefore in line with our innovative plans, ground breaking and a forward vision we explored business opportunities to generate value in the economy through sustainable investments. As one of the leading Ugandan business Group, with a track record, we were all positioned to harness this financing opportunity in order to grow and create more jobs and value for the nation.
Negotiation
Following the signing of Mezzanine Facility in 2014, the first repayment was due in 2017. However the unforeseen challenges such as unprecedented delay of the Final Investment Decision (FDI) on the oil and gas projects and Vantage’s requirement to us to improve the hotel’s fire and safety features to international benchmarked standards hindered our envisaged projects. We then proactively engaged Vantage and mutually agreed to a further moratorium for two years thereby mutually agreeing to freeze all payments until December 2019.
In December 2019, Vantage issued a demand for the principal and interest from 2014 onwards and by early 2020, the said amount had increased. With the effects of Covid-19 on business and the economy, we were once again faced with great challenges. Vantage nevertheless attempted to realize their security over the prime assets of Simba Group. This was despite my overtures to resolve the issue of extraordinary acceleration of the interest rate which in real terms is over 35% per annum in USD. The intervention of the Court was then sought with a bid to secure the determination on several issues. The court referred the parties to arbitration at a seat of Vantage’s choosing in accordance with the terms of the MTFA. Vantage chose London as the seat of arbitration and filed a request to arbitrate at the International Chamber Of Commerce (ICC). Simba acknowledged and responded to the request to arbitrate and continue to participate in this process to date.
However notwithstanding the reference to arbitration, Vantage attempted to transfer shares in Simba which they held simply as security. Uganda registration services Bureau (URSB), a government body, declined to register the transfer of shares and directed Vantage to follow the direction of the Court to essentially resolve the issues at arbitration first.
Vintage being displeased with that decision sought judicial review in High Court seeking Mandamus orders to direct URSB to transfer shares, a matter which court on 9th May 2022 dismissed on grounds that they, Vantage, had violated mandatory provisions of the law and the Partnership Act and the Business Names Registration Act , thereby in effect lacking legal presence to sue or be sued. Despite this ruling, Vantage went on to advertise the Group Properties on 18th May 2022 in total disregard to the foundation and concerns raised by Court in its decision.
This inevitably sparked off the mayhem that broke out all over social media and other news outlets. It is worth noting that on the 16th May 2022 only two days before the advert, the same Vantage had lodged a Notice of Appeal against the decision of the court. It therefore surprised us that they could not await the results of their own appeal.
Assurance
As a business, we are committed to having this business dispute resolved at the earliest opportunity. I would like to emphasise that this is a dispute between two business parties.
May I take this opportunity to reassure our clients and stakeholders and the general public that we will continue to operate our business and unreservedly serve the nation as we have done for the last 30 years.
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