Bona Life Bounces Back

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday December 17, 2018 14:28

 

The Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority  (NBFIRA) last week announced the upliftment on the temporary closure of Bona Life which came into effect in July this year.

“NBFIRA would like to inform members of the public that it has lifted the temporary closure placed on Bona Life as it has put in place appropriate measures to regularise their identified non-compliance,” she said.

Earlier this year, Bona Life shut its doors indefinitely, marking the culmination of a bitter shareholder dispute that traces back to the P400 million battle between the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) and asset management firm, Capital Management Botswana (CMB).

Bona Life holds about P800 million in annuities from nearly 1,000 clients. The company’s 20 permanent employees in Gaborone and Francistown were then sent home, while the regulator, the NBFIRA informed the closure. Bona Life, which is locally spearheaded by Regina Sikalesele-Vaka, is owned by Foudello, a company in which the Botswana Opportunities Partnership (BOP) holds 40%, CMB 25%, Sikalesele-Vaka 25% and staff 10%. BOP is a fund that at one point housed more than P400 million in investments funded by BPOPF and managed by CMB, before the hostile fallout late last year in which the pension fund accused CMB of attempting to make off with the pensioner-funded BOP.

Last month, Bona Life launched a separate court process to recover their assets from Capital Management Botswana Fund 1 (CMB FUND 1), which its asset manager is CMB. Bona Life, as the sole creditor of CMB Fund 1, filed an urgent application seeking for the provisional winding up of CMB Fund 1 as the insurance company tries to protect its assets from going under liquidation through asset manager CMB.

Following lengthy legal arguments, Bona Life emerged victorious, meaning that they will be able to recover their assets when CMB Fund 1 goes for liquidation.