FG to confirm sale of PHCN February 2012

By Clara Nwachukwu
The Federal Government said it will confirm the preferred bidders for the generation and distribution companies unbundled from the Power Holding Companies, PHCN, by February next year.

The decision followed the extension of transaction deadlines by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, for the submission and opening of bids for the companies, which are being put up for sale under the ongoing privatisation of the power sector with a view to making it more efficient and effective.

In a statement on Thursday, the Bureau said, “The deadline for submission of bids for the generation companies is January 16, 2012 whereas the deadline for the submission of bids for distribution companies is January 30, 2012.

“The bid evaluation process for the distribution firms will be completed on February 14, 2012 while that for the distribution companies is February 28, 2012.”

Explaining the rationale for the extension, which the BPE said it did after consultation with stakeholders in the sector, the Bureau said this followed the need to finalise industry agreements and the Multi-Year Tariff Order, MYTO, before proceeding with the privatisation of the successor companies created from the PHCN.

In this regard, the industry regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and other key stakeholders are working towards finalising the industry agreements and MYTO. While also fast tracking the setting up of the Bulk Trader and conclude the subsidy structure.

“Based on these factors and with the intention of creating the optimal environment for the investors, the Bureau decided to revise the transaction timeline after consultations with the key stakeholders in the electric power sector. The revised timeline also includes an extension of the deadline to confirm the intention to bid and pay the due fee for purchasing the Requests for Proposals, RfP, documents.,” BPE said in its statement.

Under the revised timeline, draft industry agreements will be posted on August 15, 2011. The deadline for bidders to confirm intention to bid and pay $20,000 for purchase of RFP documents is August 26, 2011.

The issuance of RFP and Information Memorandum documents will be undertaken on September 1, 2011. The access to virtual data room begins on September 1, 2011.

The Pre-Due Diligence Conference will hold on September 16, 2011 while bidders’ site visits are scheduled for between September 19, 2011 and January 16, 2012.

The transaction and industry review conference will hold between October 4 and 5, 2011 whilst the Pre-Bid Conference is scheduled for November 21, 2011.