Nigeria’s Bukky George is Fighting hard to Stop Alta Semper Capital from Taking over her company

Back in 1996 when Bukky George established HealthPlus Limited with hopes of building into a leading Nigerian company, she had no idea that a day would come when she will be fighting tooth and nails to stop foreigners from taking it over. Fast forward to 2020 and that is exactly what is happening. A British private equity firm called Alta Semper Capital has been trying everything possible to take over the company. Interestingly, Alta Semper had in 2018 injected the sum of $18 million into the Nigerian integrative pharmacy chain, thereby enabling it to expand its retail outlets across the country.

How the leadership/ownership tussle began

Sometime in September 2020, the general public was informed that the majority of HealthPlus Limited’s directors voted to sack Bukky George from her position as Chief Executive Officer. To replace her, a man named Chidi Okoro was brought in as the company’s interim Chief Transformation Officer. A statement that was seen by Business Elites Africa at the time explained that Alta Semper reached a decision to remove her because some of the key performance targets that were set forth prior to the $18 million capital injection haven’t been met. The statement also accused Mrs George of breaching a whole lot of other agreement terms, although no specific details and evidence were provided in this regard. The statement concluded by noting that the Alta Semper investors believed it would be right to retain her on the company’s board as a director, while someone else was brought in to run the daily activities for a change. 

Meanwhile, Bukky George cried foul play

Shortly after news of Bukky George’s supposed termination made headlines, a lengthy statement signed by HealthPlus’s management was published on the company’s Instagram page urging customers and other stakeholders to disregard the news. The statement also alleged an “attempted hostile takeover by foreign private equity firm”, and stressed that Bukky George remains the Founder and CEO of the company…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Read the entire piece on Joomag. It’s on page 32 of our 50 Most Influential Women in Business edition. Follow this link.