03 February 2013 – The process of privatisation of the unbundled power companies has made some headway as submission of fresh bids for Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company closed yesterday.
The Bureau for Public Enterprises had set January 31, 2013 as deadline for the two companies that could not be sold along with the others last year.
However, it was not certain how many bidders were able to meet the deadline as enquiries at the Bureau of Public Enterprises to ascertain the number of companies that had submitted their Expression of Interests (EOIs) did not yield positive results.
The Chairman, Technical Committee, National Council Privatisation, Mr. Atedo Peterside, had while announcing the deadline for the submission of the EOIs, said the closing date was sacrosanct.
The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company and Afam Power Plc could not be sold along with 15 other firms carved out of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria due to some complications.
For the Kaduna Disco, the two companies that bid for it could not meet the technical and financial targets set by the privatisation agency.
The privatisation of Afam was suspended following complications resulting from the participation of a firm belonging to the former Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji, Geometrics Nigeria Limited, in the process.
All the firms that were pre-qualified to take part in the opening of financial bids for the 17 PHCN successor companies were cleared to submit fresh bids for the remaining two companies.
This technically means that the 52 companies that paid $20,000 each to participate in the sale of the 17 successor companies had been invited to submit fresh bids for the electricity generation and distribution companies.
BPE had recently opened final negotiations with the preferred bidders for the generation and distribution companies.
The negotiations are expected to pave the way for the signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreements and the Shareholders’ Agreements for the firms.
The Acting Director-General, BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, had said at the opening of the negotiation that the preferred bidders would be required to make 25 per cent payment of the bid sums within 15 working days from the signing of the agreements.
Following the approval of the NCP chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo, the preferred bidders had paid a total of $335,854,986.15, which the transaction process required them to pay as bid guarantees.
For the Abuja Distribution Company, Kann Consortium had paid $24.6m; for the Benin Disco, Vigeo Power Consortium paid $19.35m; for Eko Disco, West Power and Gas paid $20.25m; for Enugu Disco, Interstate Electrics Limited paid $18.9m; while for the Ibadan Disco, Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited paid $25.35m.
The NEDC/KEPCO Consortium paid $19.65m for the Ikeja Disco; Aura Energy Limited paid $12.3m for Jos Disco; Sahelian Power Limited paid $20,55m for Kano Disco; 4Power Consortium paid $18.64m for Port Harcourt Disco; while Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited paid $8.89m for the Yola Disco.
For the power generation companies, North-South Power Limited paid $16.75m for Shiroro Hydro Power Plc; Mainstream Energy Solutions, $35.68m for Kainji Hydro Power Plc; CMEC/EURAFRIC Energy Limited, $30.15m for Sapele Power Plc; Amperion Power Distribution Limited, $19.8m for Geregu Power Plc; while Transcorp Consortium paid $45m for Ughelli Power Plc.
*Nse Anthony Uko, Leadership