Fresh indications have emerged that the embattled Acorn petroleum tank farm along Apapa Oshodi expressway has been acquired by another firm called African Terminal.
Acorn was one of the 32 petroleum product storage facilities offered for sale in November 2015 by the Federal Government through the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) the tank farm is worth several billions of Naira.
Shipping Position Daily visited the tank farm last week and noticed that the depot has been rebranded and renovated by its present owners.
Our correspondent was reliably informed by a source that “Acorn has been sold and it has been bought by African terminal”
“The terminal has received AGO and they are going to commence distribution of product starting from Monday (today). For some three four months they were carrying out renovation of the depot” he said.
AMCON had declared intentions to sell off the 32 tan farms last year for defaulting in their loan payments.
The tank farms included: Zenon 1 and 2, Acorn, Aquitane, among others.
A source at the tank farms told Shipping Position Daily correspondent that the distressed tank farms have been on lease for a long time, but their original owners were not performing in their loans.
"AMCON wants to sell Acorn tank farm; it is situated between Total and Integrated tank farm, Zenon 1, and Imad (formerly Zenon 2) as well as Aquitaine. The reason why they want to sell these tank farms is because, while AMCON took over the depots, people were allowed to take it under lease, but the performance of these leases is not living up to expectation”
“In the course of recovering the bad debts, some of the parties are calling for a sell and share arrangement and collect their balance” “Acorn is already out for sale and people are already pricing", our source stated.
He however said that the 32 tank farms offered for sale are scattered all over the country and not only in Apapa
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