Unity Bank denies Milost pact, distances itself from threats

Unity Bank Plc, a Nigerian lender, denied entering a binding agreement with private-equity firm Milost Global Inc. over a potential $1 billion investment, saying talks were only preliminary and didn’t come with any commitments.

New York-based Milost this week said it terminated talks to provide debt and equity funding to Unity, saying it received threats that it will be run out of the country if the deal continues.

The firm said a term sheet was signed in September and approved by the board of Unity, which needed the capital to strengthen its balance sheet and to expand. Milost would ultimately have acquired 60 percent in the Lagos-based bank.

“No definitive documentation governing the proposed financing was executed,” Unity said in a statement distributed by Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday. It is not unusual that non-binding documents between parties are exchanged and the papers only suggested “terms and conditions on which Milost was planning to consider its possible participation in the capital funding of the bank.”

Unity said it had nothing to do with the threats from the unidentified individual.