By Energy Worth
The Bureau of Public Enterprises has invited Expressions of Interest from prospective investors who are interested in purchasing 60 per cent stake in Afam Power Plc and Yola Electricity Distribution Company Plc (YEDC).
The Head of Public Communications at the privatisation agency, Mrs. Amina Othman, confirmed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday.
Othman said prospective investors had up until September 26 to send in their Expressions of Interest in order to participate in the transactions expected to be concluded between December and January 2019.
According to the BPE, both local and foreign investors could participate in the privatisation exercise upon submission of relevant documents including evidence of incorporation, payment of taxes and capacity to manage the power firms.
The Federal Government recently announced the appointment of transaction advisers for the privatisation of the two power firms that were carved out of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr Alex Okoh, recently disclosed that the government expected N400bn from the sale of public enterprises to be ploughed into funding the 2018 budget.
For both Afam Power Plc and Yola Disco, the current effort towards privatisation is a repeat exercise.
With a bid of $260.05m, Taleveras had on July 31, 2013 beaten TES Power to emerge the preferred bidder for Afam Power Plc, the last of the generating companies carved out of the defunct PHCN.
On December 23, 2013, Taleveras signed a Power Purchase Agreement with the BPE for Afam but the transaction could not be concluded because of the inability of the government to sign a gas supply agreement with the company. Thereafter, the exercise was stalled.
On the other hand, following difficulty in running the Yola Disco due to activities of Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, Integrated Energy and Distribution Marketing Company had asked the government to buy back its 51 per cent stake in the electricity distribution company.
The former core investor in Yola Electricity Distribution Company had on six occasions (November 10, 2013, August 27, 2014, October 15, 2014, April 9, 2015, April 30, 2015 and May 13, 2015) given notice of force majeure to the government.
The force majeure clause is a standard clause in most contracts and includes events such as natural disasters, wars and other occurrences not within the power or control of the executing party that makes implementation of a contract impossible.
