Deal sheet
- Status
- DISSOLVED ON 19 NOVEMBER 2024, RESTORED BY 31 MARCH 2025. Companies House filing history for NATIVE NETWORKS LIMITED records a Final Gazette notice, form GAZ2, dated 19 November 2024, dissolving the company via compulsory strike-off. No filing in the intervening period exists, because a dissolved company cannot file anything. The next entries are an RT01 administrative restoration application and a backfiled CS01 confirmation statement for the missed 17 June 2024 date, both dated 3 March 2025, followed by backfiled micro company accounts to 30 June 2024 on 31 March 2025. The company's current status on the register is Active.
FIVE STRIKE-OFF THREATS SINCE 2019, ONE COMPLETED. The same filing history shows First Gazette compulsory strike-off notices, form GAZ1, on 17 November 2020, 6 June 2023, 5 September 2023, 3 September 2024 and 26 May 2026. The first four were each followed by a DISS40 discontinuance within days to weeks, timed in each case to a confirmation statement or annual accounts filing arriving late. The fifth, in September 2024, was briefly marked "Compulsory strike-off action has been suspended" on 15 October 2024 (form DISS16(SOAS), the registry's own one-line description), then proceeded to dissolution anyway five weeks later. The 2026 notice was again discontinued, on 4 July 2026, after a confirmation statement was filed 1 July 2026 and, five weeks after the discontinuance, annual accounts followed on 12 August 2026.
WHAT CAUSED EACH NOTICE IS INFERRED FROM TIMING, NOT STATED. Companies House publishes the fact of a strike-off action and its discontinuance or completion; it does not publish, on the public filing-history page, a stated reason tied to each individual GAZ1. This record infers the cause from which overdue document was filed immediately before or after each discontinuance, a pattern consistent across all five episodes, but treats the inference as an inference and not as a quoted fact.
- Parties
- The NATIVE, Def Jam Recordings
- Amount
- Not disclosed
- Rights covered
- CONTROL OF A COMPANY, NOT TITLE TO RIGHTS. What this register establishes is who controls NATIVE Networks Limited, the UK entity trade press has named as the corporate home of NATIVE Records and the co-signer of Def Jam Recordings' 2022 African joint venture. It does not establish what that company owns, licenses or administers. A PSC filing is a statement about shares and votes, never a statement about copyright, and this record makes no claim about master recordings, publishing rights or the joint venture's internal equity split, all of which remain undisclosed on every document this desk has reviewed, including its own earlier record of the joint venture itself.
WHAT THE CONTROL CONSISTS OF. One active person with significant control is recorded: Mr Mohammed-Kabir Oluwaseni Saraki, with ownership of shares of more than 25 per cent but not more than 50 per cent, ownership of voting rights in the same band, notified 18 June 2019, the date of incorporation. No right to appoint or remove directors is recorded against him, which distinguishes this register from the Dapper Music record this desk published the same day: there, one person held three overlapping levers of control; here, only two, and neither reaches a majority band.
FIVE DIRECTORS, ONE DISCLOSED OWNER. Olusola Fagbemi, Ademide K-Edgal, Mohammed-Kabir Oluwaseni Saraki, Suleiman Olakunle Shittu and Teniola Zaccheus were all appointed director on 18 June 2019 and none has resigned. Their names correspond, on an exact or near-exact basis, to the five people this desk's own directory already credits as NATIVE's co-founders: Seni Saraki, Teni Zaccheaus, Olushola Fagbemi, Addy Edgal and Suleiman Shittu. Being a director carries no PSC interest by itself. Whatever the other four hold in shares, none of it crosses 25 per cent, or it would appear on this register too.
- Territory
- UNITED KINGDOM FOR THE REGISTRATION, NIGERIA AND WORLDWIDE FOR THE OPERATION. NATIVE Networks Limited is incorporated in England and Wales and files at Companies House. Its sole disclosed controller is recorded as a director of a Lagos-founded media and music group; the Def Jam joint venture this desk has separately documented was described at launch as worldwide. No territorial grant is at issue in this record, which concerns control of, and the registrar's dealings with, a company, not the scope of any licence.
- Announced
- 2024-11-19
- Primary document
- Regulatory filing
- Sources
- UK Companies House public register, PSC page for NATIVE NETWORKS LIMITED, company number 12055634, retrieved 13 September 2026. · Companies House registered profile for NATIVE NETWORKS LIMITED, company number 12055634: incorporated 18 June 2019, Active status, registered office 70 Bourne Street, London SW1W 8JW, SIC codes 58142 (publishing of consumer and business journals and periodicals), 59112 (video production activities), 59200 (sound recording and music publishing activities) and 90010 (performing arts). · Companies House officers list: Olusola Fagbemi, Ademide K-Edgal, Mohammed-Kabir Oluwaseni Saraki and Suleiman Olakunle Shittu, all British, and Teniola Zaccheus, Nigerien, all appointed director 18 June 2019, no resignations recorded. · Companies House filing history, read in full for form type and date: NEWINC 18 June 2019 (incorporation, statement of capital GBP 105); GAZ1 17 November 2020; CS01 4 December 2020; DISS40 5 December 2020; AA 5 February 2021 (to 30 June 2020); CS01 16 August 2021; AA 30 March 2022 (to 30 June 2021); CS01 26 August 2022; GAZ1 6 June 2023; DISS40 13 June 2023; AA 22 June 2023 (to 30 June 2022); GAZ1 5 September 2023; DISS40 6 September 2023; CS01 12 October 2023; AA 28 March 2024 (to 30 June 2023); GAZ1 3 September 2024; DISS16(SOAS) 15 October 2024; GAZ2 19 November 2024 (dissolved via compulsory strike-off); RT01 3 March 2025; CS01 3 March 2025 (made 17 June 2024, with updates); AA 31 March 2025 (to 30 June 2024); CS01 9 July 2025; GAZ1 26 May 2026; DISS16(SOAS) 17 June 2026; CS01 1 July 2026; DISS40 4 July 2026; AA 12 August 2026 (to 30 June 2025). · Verbatim press release announcing the Def Jam Recordings and NATIVE Records joint venture, dateline 20 September 2022, naming "NATIVE Networks co-presidents Seni 'Chubbz' Saraki and Teni 'Teezee' Zaccheaus", read directly to corroborate that the Saraki and Zaccheus recorded as directors of this UK company are the same two people named on the NATIVE side of the joint venture. · This desk's own earlier deal record on the Def Jam and NATIVE Records joint venture, establishing that no financial terms or rights allocation for that venture have been disclosed. Cited for context, not as a source for any new claim in this record.
Read this before citing: ESTABLISHED. That NATIVE NETWORKS LIMITED is a real, active company registered in England and Wales, number 12055634, incorporated 18 June 2019. That its register shows exactly one active person with significant control, Mr Mohammed-Kabir Oluwaseni Saraki, in the 25-to-50-per-cent band for both shares and votes, with no ceased PSC entries. That five directors, matching this desk's existing directory list of NATIVE's co-founders by name, were appointed on incorporation day and remain in office. That the company was dissolved via compulsory strike-off on 19 November 2024 and was active again, on the evidence of its own filings, by 31 March 2025. That it has faced five First Gazette compulsory strike-off notices since 2019. Each of these was read directly from the Companies House public register on 13 September 2026.
IDENTITY NOT ESTABLISHED BEYOND NAME MATCH. Companies House publishes no date of birth for this PSC and no photograph. The correspondence between "Mr Mohammed-Kabir Oluwaseni Saraki" on the register and "Seni 'Chubbz' Saraki" named in the 2022 Def Jam press release rests on an exact first-and-surname match, an identical middle name pattern (Seni is a common short form of Oluwaseni), and the same Saraki appearing as a director alongside Zaccheus, matching the "NATIVE Networks co-presidents Seni 'Chubbz' Saraki and Teni 'Teezee' Zaccheaus" the press release names together. This record treats that as strong but not certified identification, consistent with how this desk has treated equivalent PSC-to-public-figure matches before.
WHAT DISSOLUTION DID OR DID NOT DO TO ANY RIGHT IS NOT ESTABLISHED. UK company law generally treats a company restored to the register as having continued in existence as if it had not been dissolved, but whether NATIVE Networks Limited held, in its own name, any master recording, publishing interest or the joint venture equity itself during the period it did not legally exist is not stated in any document this desk reviewed, and this record makes no claim about it either way. Property of a dissolved company that has not been restored can in principle pass to the Crown as bona vacantia; this record does not assert that occurred here, only that the general question is one the restoration route exists to close, and that the register does not itemise what, if anything, needed closing.
WHY EACH STRIKE-OFF NOTICE WAS ISSUED IS INFERRED, NOT STATED. The registrar's public filing-history page names the type of notice and its date, not its cause. This record's account of which overdue filing preceded each notice is an inference from timing, disclosed as such above.
THE JOINT VENTURE'S OWN TERMS REMAIN UNDISCLOSED. This record does not revisit or restate this desk's earlier finding on the Def Jam and NATIVE Records joint venture beyond confirming that NATIVE Networks Limited is the UK entity whose directors match the NATIVE side of that announcement. No financial terms, equity split or rights allocation for that venture are disclosed here or in the earlier record.
NO NIGERIAN-SIDE RECORD COULD BE CHECKED. NATIVE Records and NATIVE Networks are both described in press coverage as operating out of Lagos as well as the UK. Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission has no public free-text search tool available to this desk, so any Nigerian-registered entity sitting beside or above this UK company, and any Nigerian-side shareholding among the same five founders, is unresolved and unclaimed by this record.
NATIVE Networks Limited, the UK company that trade press named as the other party to Def Jam Recordings’ 2022 joint venture with NATIVE Records, was compulsorily dissolved by the UK registrar on 19 November 2024 and did not legally exist again until it was administratively restored, on the evidence of its own filing history, by 31 March 2025.
The company’s public register records exactly one person with significant control. Mr Mohammed-Kabir Oluwaseni Saraki, identifiable as the Seni “Chubbz” Saraki named in the 2022 Def Jam announcement, is recorded with ownership of shares of more than 25 per cent but not more than 50 per cent, and the equivalent band of voting rights, notified on 18 June 2019, the day the company was incorporated. No other person or entity appears on the PSC register, active or ceased. His identity was verified on 25 February 2026 by Harris & Trotter LLP, an Authorised Corporate Service Provider.
Five directors are recorded, all appointed on incorporation day and all still serving with no resignations: Olusola Fagbemi, Ademide K-Edgal, Saraki, Suleiman Olakunle Shittu and Teniola Zaccheus. The names and roles are consistent with the five people this desk’s directory already lists as co-founders of the NATIVE group. Only Saraki crosses the 25 per cent disclosure threshold; what the other four hold, individually, is not stated anywhere on the register.
The dissolution was not a one-off lapse. Companies House filing history shows five separate First Gazette notices for compulsory strike-off against this company since 2019: 17 November 2020, 6 June 2023, 5 September 2023, 3 September 2024 and 26 May 2026. Four were discontinued after a late filing arrived. The fifth, in 2024, was not: it proceeded to a Final Gazette dissolution on 19 November 2024, and the company was only brought back by an administrative restoration application filed 3 March 2025, alongside the backfiled confirmation statement and accounts that restoration required.
This is a record of who controls a UK holding company and of that company’s compliance history with its own registrar. It is not a record of who owns any master recording, publishing right or artist contract. No document reviewed states what NATIVE Networks Limited itself owns, and this desk’s earlier record of the Def Jam joint venture already establishes that no party has disclosed who holds the masters made under it.
