Two of Europe’s biggest banks want to seize oil trader Igho Sanomi’s London homes. Let the battle commence.
ING Groep NV and Credit Suisse Group AG are vying for the Nigerian tycoon’s properties in Chelsea, Belgravia and Kilburn over $5 million in unpaid debts they allege is owed by his company Taleveras Energy. ING’s Brussels and Geneva branch is owed $2.2 million, ING lawyer Rupert Cohen said Wednesday in written submissions to a London court.
Credit Suisse is owed about $3 million, according to a filing the lender made in April. The Swiss bank seized Sanomi’s private jet, Bloomberg reported earlier this year, and the plane is currently listed as sold. The properties owned by the trader were identified by both banks as assets that may be forfeited if he loses.
The banks are set to compete over the assets during the final hearing of the case next month. And they may not be the only ones. In February, a judge ordered the trader to pay private jet firm Aravco Ltd. about $160,000. Banque Cantonale de Geneve had also made a freezing order against the apartments, but dropped it after settling with Sanomi in May, according to court filings.
Sanomi, who didn’t attend the hearing or have legal representatives in the London court, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Taleveras Energy traded more than 100 million barrels of crude oil per year and was seeking to supply biofuel to the U.S. military, Bloomberg reported in 2017.