Damilola Shittu – Abuja
Transcorp Power Consortium has emerged the bid winner for Afam Power Plc.
The consortium submitted a bid of N105.3 billion to beat two other companies that wanted to acquire the electricity generation company (100 percent equity).
Similarly, Quest Electricity won the bid for 60 per cent equity in Yola Electricity Distribution Plc with a bid of N19bn.
Another consortium, Diamond Stripes Consortium, was declared the reserve bidder for the power company with a bid of N102.39 billion while Unicorn Power Generation Consortium came third with a bid of N101.05 billion.
The bidding for Afam closed in the second round. At the first round of bidding, Unicorn had emerged the highest bidder with a bid of N100.45 billion; Transcorp submitted a bid of N89.37 billion while Diamond put in a bid of N72.73 billion.
It was when the potential investors were asked to go and reverse their bids for a second round that Transcorp Power Consortium which already operates the Ugheli Power Plant threw in the highest bid of N105.3 billion.
The winner is also to pay a BPE Management Fee of five per cent of the total bid value.
On the other hand, Quest Electricity Nigeria Limited, which was the sole bidder for Yola Electricity Distribution Company, submitted an initial bid of N17.67 billion.
However, the company reversed its bid at the second round when it was told that its bid did not meet the reserve price set by the National Council on Privatisation.
The Vice-Chairman, Technical Committee of NCP, Dr Ayo Teriba, who chaired the ceremony, said the winning and reserve bids were subject to the approval of the NCP chaired by the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.
He said, “The transaction of the enterprises will legally come to a close with the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement and any other related documents by each preferred bidder as approved by the NCP.
“Payment will be made in naira through the Remita Retrieval Reference in favour of BPE; 25 percent of the purchase consideration should be made within seven working days from the date of signing the Share Purchase Agreement.
“The remaining 75 per cent payment will be paid to BPE within 180 calendar days after signing of the Share Purchase Agreement.”
Speaking at the event, Director General of BPE, Mr Alex Okoh, explained that the country still had a long way to go in terms of its electric power reform programme.
