(Ecofin Agency) - Libya African Portfolio Green Networks (LAP GreenN), the former shareholder in Zambian incumbent operator Zamtel, says it will grab Zambia’s assets abroad to recover a debt of $257 million owed by the government.

According to Bloomberg, LAP GreenN wants to recover the rest of the $380 million that the Zambian state owes the company following the court decision taken in 2017 by the High Court of Justice in London for compensation, following the unilateral nationalization of Zamtel in 2012.

Zambia has defaulted on the British court's payment order four times in a row. According to Faisel Gergab - the president of the Libyan Post Telecommunications & Information Technology Company (LPTIC), the holding company that manages Libya's telecom assets – LAP GreenN found itself forced to evaluate other options for recovering its debt after "patiently" seeking an out-of-court settlement.

Faisel Gergab says LAP GreenN “will pursue all avenues or recourse available to it should the defaults continue and wants to recover the full amount due.” It was in 2012 when Libya entered a political crisis, still ongoing, that LAP GreenN was forcibly dispossessed of the 75% of shares Zamtel acquired in 2010 for $252 million.