23 August 2013, Lagos – There is yet no official comment from the Bureau of Public Entreprises, BPE, more than 24 hours after the close of the commercial transactions the sale of 15 successor companies unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
Wednesday 5 pm. was the deadline given to the 14 preferred bidders approved by the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, to pay up the balance of 75 percent of their bid values, having paid an initial 25 percent by way of commitment to the bids in March 2013.
As at Wednesday, 12 companies met the deadline while the remaining two were caught up in international transfer challenges with their respective banks, similar to what happened to Glo Mobile Network, when it bidded for the Global System for Mobile, GSM network service in Nigeria.
There is no pointers from the two government agencies on the fate of the companies which failed to meet the deadline and the likelihood of the reserve bidders being invited to take over the unfulfilled bids.
Commenting on his company’s successful acquisition of one of the power companies, the President/Chief Executive Officer, Transcorp, Mr. Obinna Ufudo, said, “Transcorp’s ability to achieve set goals and objectives propels us to target even larger investments in our selected business sectors with the potential to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s development.
“TUPL has extensive worldwide power sector experience in Africa, Europe and the Middle East which underscores its unquestionable capacity to effectively manage the plant profitably in line with international standards.
“Following this remarkable milestone, we shall now take over the operations and management of the plant, deploy our strategy to ensure a smooth transition and in the near term, create a profitable business that will deliver greater outcome in terms of power to the nation. Our inclination to success consistently translates to value for all our stakeholders, one of the goals which we pledged from the outset.”
In his own submission, Adeoye Fadeyibi, Chief Executive Officer, TUPL affirmed: ‘This is exciting for us as a company as well as the power sector and every Nigerian. It is the beginning of an era where power becomes constant and within reach. We plan to deliver on capacity targets and sustain the momentum using people and resources to achieve operational excellence.”
Prove yourselves, Vigeo Power tell PHCN workers
Having paid its 75 percent balance of $96.75million for the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, Vigeo Power Limited has promised to give the existing PHCN workers a chance to prove themselves under the new management.
Vigeo had earlier paid the sum of $32.25million – representing 25 per cent of the $129million bid price for the BEDC, which covered Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti States.
The Chairman of the company, Mr Gbolade Osibodu, said all the staff would be given a chance to proof themselves in line with the company’s vision.
On how prepared the firm is to take possession, he said: “We have been around for 11 years now. As a turnaround management, we are well positioned to help drive the process taking into account the people and technology to ensure that we provide adequate services.”
Members of the consortium include Vigeo Holdings Limited; Global Utilities Management Company Limited, GUMCO; African Finance Corporation, AFC; and TATA Power Delhi Distribution Limited, TPDDL as the foreign technical partner.