19 July 2012, Sweetcrude, LAGOS – Dangote Power, an arm of the Dangote Group, owned by business magnate, Aliko Dangote, has missed the July 17 deadline given to investors bidding for Nigeria’s six power generation companies under the privatisation programme.
Besides Dangote Power, some other companies that failed to meet the deadline set by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, for the submission of bids are Western Metal Products Company Limited (WEMPCO) and Supertech, a company purpotedly owned by Professor Jerry Gana, former minister of Information and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party.
JBN-Nestoil Power Services Ltd, made up of Nestoil Plc (an affiliate company of Century Power) and Julius Berger Nigeria, were, however, able to meet the deadline, so also a group linked to the embattled Femi Otedola, chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Forte Oil Plc.
Mr. Chukwuma Nwokoh, head of public communications at the BPE stated, Wednesday that with the closure of bid, the next stage would be the July 31, 2012 deadline for technical and financial proposals from those bidding for the distribution companies.
The BPE said that the evaluation of the technical bids will take place between August 14 and 28, 2012, while the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, will approve the results of the technical evaluation on or before September 11, 2012.
The deadline for the shortlisted bidders for generation companies to submit their letters of credit has, however, been fixed for September 18, 2012, while October 2, 2012 is for shortlisted bidders for distribution companies.
The BPE will between September 25, 2012 and October 10, 2012, open the financial bids of prospective investors for the privatisation of the successor companies created from the PHCN, while the NCP will on or before October 23, 2012, unveil the preferred bidders for the 17 successor companies.
