Ugandan tycoon Patrick Bitature ends seven-year $17 million fight with South African lender

Ugandan tycoon Patrick Bitature has settled a seven-year legal battle with South African mezzanine lender Vantage Capital over a 2014 loan, ending 34 court cases in Uganda and England through mediation at the country's Supreme Court.

Uganda's judiciary announced the settlement on Oct. 22. It said the dispute was worth 71.49 billion Ugandan shillings ($17 million) and covered 18 cases in the High Court, 13 in the Supreme Court and three in the courts of England and Wales. Supreme Court Justice Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza mediated the talks under Civil Appeal No. 28 of 2025.

The terms were not made public. The judiciary did not say how much either side paid or gave up, or whether the agreement frees the properties and shares that had been tied up in the case.

A $10 million loan

The fight goes back to a $10 million term loan that Vantage Mezzanine Fund II Partnership extended to Simba Properties Investment Co., part of Bitature's Simba Group, on Dec. 11, 2014. The money was meant to refinance existing debt, pay for property development and provide working capital. Bitature, his wife Carol, and group companies including Simba Telecom, Elgon Terrace Hotel and Linda Properties guaranteed the loan, which was also secured by mortgages over group assets.

Vantage said the borrower defaulted, and the claim grew with interest and penalties. In 2021 Uganda's Commercial Court sent the dispute to arbitration. A year later, mortgaged properties were advertised for auction to recover more than $32 million, a sale that Bitature's companies challenged in court.

An arbitrator under the International Chamber of Commerce ruled for Vantage on July 31, 2023. In November that year, Uganda's High Court barred the Simba companies and the guarantors from changing the ownership of the mortgaged properties or their shareholdings while Vantage sought to enforce the award.

Appeals and a stay

The case then moved through Uganda's appeal courts. In August 2025 the Court of Appeal struck out an appeal by the Bitature side, ruling that the country's arbitration law did not allow it. In October 2025, Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Musoke granted Simba Properties and the guarantors an interim stay of execution, finding a likelihood that Vantage would move to enforce the award.

The mediated settlement brings the cases to an end before the Supreme Court ruled on the substance. Robert Kirunda, whose firm Kirunda & Co. Advocates represented Vantage, took part in the mediation.

Uganda's judiciary has pushed mediation as a faster and cheaper way to clear commercial cases from its courts.

Simba Group

Bitature founded Simba Group in 1998. It started in mobile phone distribution through Simba Telecom and grew into real estate, energy, agribusiness, hospitality and media. He is one of Uganda's best-known businessmen.

Vantage Capital, based in Johannesburg, is one of Africa's largest mezzanine lenders and provides a mix of debt and equity-like financing to mid-sized companies across the continent.