A Hedge Fund Steps Into Nigeria’s $9 Billion Corporate Dispute

Nigeria potentially faces the largest financial liability in its history, and a hedge fund is coming to collect. The legal and political drama involves a deal between the country and a tiny natural gas company that was scuttled after the sudden death of Nigeria’s president in 2010. The company, Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), sued and won a staggering judgment, now worth $9 billion. But it’s spent years trying to get the country to pay that award, equivalent to almost 2.5 percent of its annual gross domestic product.

Now a hedge fund managed by VR Capital Group has taken a large stake in P&ID. And the gas company is trying to pull levers of power in the U.S. and the U.K. to make Nigeria settle or, failing that, enable the company to start seizing assets.