The
National Council on Privatisation (NCP) on Thursday approved the sale of the
liquidated Nigeria Telecommunication Plc and its subsidiary, Mtel, to NATCOM
Consortium for $252 million.
Atedo
Peterside, the chairman of NCP’s Technical Committee, told State House
correspondents in Abuja that the approval was one of the decisions taken at a
meeting of the council presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
He
said that NATCOM beat one other bidder to clinch the deal.
“What
happened today was that
the NCP approved the transaction which is like the
final phase of the approval because only the NCP has the powers to pronounce a
winner.
“So,
the NCP today confirmed the process and so, the transaction from the point of
view of approval and emergence of preferred bidder is now confirmed.
“We
now have a preferred bidder that has been fully ratified by the NCP.
“So,
that brings us to the end of the bidding process. So, that is the highlight of
the decision on NITEL/Mtel,” he said.
According
to him, the ratification of the sale by the NCP marks the end of the entire
bidding process and what is now left is to conclude the necessary
documentation.
He
noted that the NITEL/Mtel transaction was different from what happened with
sale of power plants because NITEL was not ongoing concern, but a liquidated
one and no longer in business.
“In
view of this, the liquidator will through the court pay some verified claims of
creditors of NITEL/Mtel, which, therefore, sidesteps the issue of third party
creditors.”
“But
it does not preclude the government from settling any obligations it feels
like,” he further explained.
Benjamin
Dikki, the director-general, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), who also
addressed the correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, announced that
Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Limited had passed the performance evaluation
administered on it.
”It
means that Indorama has fulfilled the sale purchase agreements it signed with
BPE and is therefore freed from a five-year probation/monitoring period.
“The
necessary documentation will now be done so that Vice President Namadi Sambo
can hand over the certificate of release to the company,” he said
(NAN)
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