It is a scary feeling for most people when they are about to lose something they worked hard to get or build. This must have been the feeling for Bukky George when she heard she has been replaced as the CEO of Health Plus, the company she founded in 1991.
It was a hot topic in the business circle on September 25th when a leadership tussle sparked up between Bukky George, the founder of Health Plus and Alta Semper Capital (ASC).
About Health Plus
Health plus is a leading pharmacy chain and retailer of beauty supplies in West Africa. Health plus has over 90 retail outlets, employing over 850 people including more than 150 pharmacists.
The founder, Mrs. Olubukunola Adewunmi (Bukky) George is a Nigerian and UK-trained pharmacist with over 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She founded the company with the goal of achieving universal healthcare coverage geared towards increasing life expectancy for all Nigerians.
About Alta Semper Capital
Alta Semper capital is a London-based private equity manager that invests flexible and strategic capital across select African growth markets. This means that they provide financial backing and make investments in private equity of startups or operating companies.
Where it all began
In 2018, Health Plus decided to expand its retail footprint and also boost its competitive position and was in need of funds to achieve their aim. This was when the relationship between Health Plus and Alter Semper began. Alter Sempter pledged to invest US$18 into Health Plus to help achieve their goals. The contract was drawn and signed and everything was good between the two partners.
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Bukky George, was quoted in 2018 saying “We believe Alta Semper is the right partner for our next stage of growth. We believe we have found a partner who can help us achieve this goal over the coming years.”
The founder-funder clash
Barely two years later, the tables have turned completely and the partnership seems to have turned sour as Alta Semper suddenly decided to change the leadership structure of Health Plus by terminating the appointment of Mrs Bukky George as CEO and appointing Mr. Chidi Okoro to provide interim leadership for the Company as its new Chief Transformation Officer (“CTO”).
You may be wondering why Alta Semper felt it could make such an important decision, to remove the founder as CEO and appoint a new one. So, there is this thing called shares, it expresses the ownership relationship between a company and the shareholder. A person becomes a majority shareholder when you own 50% or more of the company’s outstanding shares. This also means that the shareholder has significant amount of influence over the company.
Alta Semper owns 53.8% of the shares while Bukky George, the founder owns 46.2% shares. This makes Alta a majority shareholder.
Well, it did not take long for George to retaliate as she claimed this was false and she remains the CEO. “It is the handiwork of unscrupulous foreign and local businesswomen and businessmen intent on reaping where they have not sown simply because they now see opportunities from the COVID-19 pandemic, like scavengers and vultures,” the company said.
George also claims that Alta has starved her company of the promised funds. The PE firm paid just US$10 of the US$18 promised and this has hampered the operation of the once thriving business.
According to George, Alter Semper had a dubious plan from the beginning, they planned to pledge, give some money and then stop. So, when the business is at the verge of collapse, they buy at peanuts.
Alta states other wise as it says it has not broken any Nigerian law. “Mrs. George has not only refused to agree to offers of additional investment on commercially reasonable terms but attempted to force ASC to restructure the existing binding contracts governing their relationship – agreements, which she readily signed in 2018 after taking independent legal and financial advice” Alter Sempter Capital (ASC) said in a statement.
George has also legal actions in an attempt to stop ASC from running and managing the company. Health Plus says after Alta Semper was served the court process, they did not file any defence but appealed for dispute mediation.
At the moment, George is holding on to her position as founder and CEO and has refuted and disowned the announcement of the CTO.
This battle for ownership continues, it would be interesting to see how this end.
