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When Michael J. Prest’s BONI Global bought what it says was a 24.8% stake in Investrust Bank Plc on Zambia’s stock exchange in 2021, it expected a straightforward investment in a listed lender.
Nearly four years later, the Nigerian-linked firm is now fighting for recognition - and for its money - after the Bank of Zambia declined to acknowledge BONI as a shareholder and later moved to liquidate the bank, a sequence BONI says erased its investment and exposed gaps in investor protection.
According to BONI and details published by THISDAY, the stake was acquired through Pangea Securities, a licensed broker, on the Lusaka Securities Exchange, using the exchange’s trading and settlement procedures. BONI says the purchase was part of a broader plan that included talks with African development finance institutions and a proposed partnership with an Asian financial-technology firm.
But because Investrust is a regulated financial institution, BONI was later told it needed central bank approval for the shareholding to be formally recognized. BONI says it submitted the required information and repeatedly sought clarity on the application. Over roughly three years, it says, it was not granted shareholder recognition or board representation.
In January 2024, the Bank of Zambia informed BONI it did not recognize the firm as a shareholder. In April 2024, the regulator placed Investrust into liquidation, BONI says, leaving it with the losses of a shareholder without the rights that usually come with one.
The dispute has started to travel beyond Zambia’s borders, especially in Nigeria’s investment community, at a time when African governments are urging more intra-African capital flows. Zambia, under President Hakainde Hichilema, has pitched transparency and predictability as part of its investment message — including during recent meetings in Lusaka with Nigerian business leaders such as Aliko Dangote and Tony Elumelu.
BONI is seeking the return of its capital and compensation it estimates at about $40 million. The Bank of Zambia has not explained its decision, citing confidentiality rules for regulated institutions, and neither the exchange nor Zambia’s finance ministry has commented on BONI’s claim.
Prest has praised Hichilema’s pro-investment agenda, but has argued governance failures must be confronted openly if confidence is to hold. For investors, the fear is less the existence of approval rules - common in banking - than uncertainty about what happens when a settled purchase is later rejected and the money does not come back.
Prest, 63, was once one of the most influential commodity traders in Africa. He was a top trader at global trading behemoths Phibro Energy, Vitol before serving as CEO at Marc Rich Investments, a firm owned by Marc Rich. He founded Petrodel Resources, an oil trading and exploration company, and Bank of New Innovation (BONI) Limited, a small bank based in the island of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
