Farmforte Agro-Allied Solutions Limited, the parent company of Agropartnerships Technology Ltd has reacted to its recently sealed office by the Security and Exchange Commission for reasons bothering on not being licensed and alleged illegal investment activities.

According to the company in a mail to investors and signed by management, it stated that the company is duly registered and has carried out all operations within the full provisions of the law.

In addition, it stated that the company is an Agriculture Value Chain Development company and has at no time positioned itself as an investment soliciting platform as implied in the recent statement.

The statement read in part, “Following a recent statement made by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in which it stated that our offices were sealed over claims that our companies Farmforte Agro Allied Solutions Limited and Agropartnerships Technology Ltd are operating illegally and unlicensed to carry out investment related operations. It is imperative from a point of absolute responsibility to provide adequate clarity on the issue.

“We acknowledge the role of the Security and Exchange Commission, as the Federal Government’s agency with the sole mandate to regulate and develop the Nigerian Capital Market.

We would also like to restate that Farmforte Agro Allied Solutions Limited as mentioned in the publication, is an Agriculture Value Chain Development company, focused on creating novel solutions to existing problems across Africa’s agriculture ecosystem, while transforming them to economic opportunities. The company is duly registered and has carried out all operations within the full provisions of the law. The company also has at no time positioned itself as an investment soliciting platform as implied in the recent statement.”

The platform also pointed out that it since began the process of ensuring that all of its actions were compliant with best global practices even before SEC’s regulatory directives in 2021, adding that this includes acquiring a fund and portfolio management license from a fund management company

“Our subsidiary, Agropartnerships Technology Ltd – a digital agritech platform has also operated to consistently ensure market access to smallholder farmers within our network. At the commencement of our operations, there was no regulatory framework guiding operations in the sector but having consulted with regulators in other climes, we ensured that all our actions were compliant with best global practices in anticipation of the SEC regulation and guidelines.

“We began the process in April 2020 to ensure full compliance in anticipation of SEC’s regulatory directives. This included acquiring a fund and portfolio management license from a fund management company and immediately started the license transfer process with the SEC.

“In light of these realities, rest assured that we are working with the SEC to address the underlying challenges in order to absolutely rectify the misunderstandings that ensued. To this end, we would like to implore all our esteemed stakeholders to remain calm as we are on top of the situation and taking necessary measures to resolve it,” it said.