Multichoice Group, owners of DSTV, before the bank’s liquidation, had an account balance of N31.6 billion with Heritage Bank, according to Nairametrics.
Multichoice had a deposit of N33.7 billion (488 million South African Rands) with the bank, as of the fiscal year’s end on March 31, 2024, according to the group’s annual report for FY 2024.
However, cash remittances before the bank’s closure on June 3, 2024, caused that sum to be subsequently decreased to N31.6 billion (ZAR 400 million).
The size of the substantial deposit worried the group since it is significantly more than the N5 million maximum payout that the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission guarantees.
Meanwhile, to “ensure a reasonable outcome is achieved,” the company will work with the liquidator, the NDIC, according to Multichoice’s annual report.
Recall that NDIC had declared in a press release dated June 3, 2024, that Heritage Bank will be liquidated. According to the announcement, depositors who have more than N5 million in money would get a liquidation dividend, provided the bank’s assets are sold and its outstanding obligations cleared.
The NDIC had declared a public bidding procedure for the sale of Heritage Bank assets in line with the step of selling the bank’s assets, through a newspaper advert on June 13, 2024.
It stated, “The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation in the exercise of its rights as Liquidator of failed Deposit Money Banks hereby invites interested members of the general public to buy the assets (landed property and chattels) of defunct Heritage Banks through public competitive bidding.”
According to the Multichoice Group report, $184 million was repatriated from Nigeria, a 39.4% increase over the $132 million from the previous fiscal year.
But the group’s cash holdings dropped from $104 million as of FYE 2023 to $39 million due to remittances from Nigeria.
