Fidelity Bank has admitted it is in a deep multibillion-naira debt that could force it into bankruptcy after the Supreme Court ordered the commercial bank to pay more than N225 billion to Sagecom Concept Ltd after a years-long business dispute.

This followed an exclusive report by Peoples Gazette detailing how the Lagos-based banking group is scrambling to save the company after the apex court on April 11, 2025, ruled that it must pay Sagecom N225 billion in damages over assets sold to the latter.

“Our attention has been drawn to the publication on the Peoples Gazette Titled, ‘EXCLUSIVE: Fidelity faces bankruptcy as Supreme Court orders banking giant to pay N225 billion damages to Nigerian firm,’” Fidelity Bank said in a statement on Monday by its divisional head, brand and communications, Meksley Nwagboh.

The statement added, “By way of background, we confirm that the issues leading up to the judgment arose from a legacy transaction between the defunct FSB International Bank and Sagecom Concepts Limited. FSB granted a credit facility to G. Cappa Pic in 2002 for the sum of USD3 million.”

The dispute stemmed from $3 million and N100 million loans obtained by engineering giant G. Cappa Plc from FSB International Bank in the early 2000s before Fidelity Bank eventually bought FSB International and its liabilities as part of the banking sector consolidation in 2005.

The cumulative facility was issued at prohibitive interest per annum, and Fidelity began seizing G. Cappa’s assets in Ikoyi and Ibadan that had been used to secure the deal when the company allegedly defaulted in 2005. The engineering firm sued at the time, and a federal judge in Lagos ordered Fidelity Bank to desist from its aggressive depletion of G. Cappa’s assets, court documents said.

Despite the court ruling prohibiting further sales of G. Cappa’s assets, the management of Fidelity Bank went ahead to conduct more transactions with potential buyers, including Sagecom, but the company quickly moved to recoup over N350 million it had paid to buy some of the assets after seeing a January 2006 disclaimer about the court order barring Fidelity from selling more G. Cappa’s properties.

Subsequently, a lengthy legal battle ensued between Sagecom and Fidelity, which went from the lower courts to the Supreme Court, where five justices unanimously ruled against the bank last month, ordering Fidelity to pay N225 billion in damages to the plaintiff.

The apex court’s judgment could potentially put Fidelity Bank in jeopardy, given that the bank only declared N385 billion in profit before tax at the end of 2024, as urgency stipulated in the judgment may hamper the bank’s ability to spread out the N225 billion liability without going under.

Meanwhile, the bank said it “remains a very strong and profitable financial institution and amongst the most capitalised banks in Nigeria today with international operations.”