Business
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The deadline for preferred bidders in the guided liquidation of NITEL/MTEL has elapsed on Friday, November 7
| By Maureen Chigbo | Nov. 17, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
PREQUALIFIED bidders in the guided liquidation of NITEL/MTEL are expected to strictly stick to the deadline for the submission of the technical and financial proposals. The deadline for exercise ended 5pm Nigerian time on Friday, November 7. Prior to the deadline, Benjamin Dikki, director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, had said the bidders were free to submit their proposals before the deadline, but emphasised that bidders must endeavor to submit their proposals as scheduled “as no proposal will be accepted, even if it is one minute after the closing time for submission.”
According to him, the Bureau is a stickler to time and deadlines without any compromise. Dikki stated this while declaring open a pre-bid conference for the guided liquidation of NITEL/MTEL, organised by the liquidator and the BPE at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja, on Tuesday, November 4. The two prequalified consortia are Messrs NETTAG Consortium and Natcom Consortium. Dikki noted that the pre-bid conference was an important milestone in the privatisation of NITEL and MTEL.
The conference, which had the two prequalified bidders and other telecommunications stakeholders in attendance, was meant to provide a platform for prequalified bidders to seek clarification and resolve issue(s) that might arise prior to preparing their technical and financial proposals, given that they have concluded a two-week data room and physical due diligence.
Olutola O. Senbore, the liquidator, in his overview of the liquidation transaction, said that the objectives of the current exercise include the disposal of assets and business units of NITEL and MTEL as one entity; and the need to select bidders/investors through a competitive bidding system that have the technical and financial wherewithal to continue to run the two telecomm giants as going concerns. He also noted that the preferred bidder “must have the capability to turn around the business acquired into first class telecommunications companies.”
Senbore said the exercise was different from the past ones because it was a disposal of assets and businesses without encumbrances since they are free from liabilities. He said the transaction “by way of guided liquidation is more plausible, more bankable and more attractive.” According to him, due diligence would be continuously conducted on the bidders “including security checks as appropriate, and after the opening of financial bids, negotiation with the preferred and reserved bidders would commence to resolve any outstanding issues, especially on the Post Acquisition Plan.”
Senbore’s appointment was confirmed by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on March 14, 2014, and he commenced the process on March 25, and appointed professionals to work with him as required under the law. Members of Committee of Inspection, COI, were appointed from significant creditors including equipment vendors, Debt Management Office, First Bank Plc and others.
A Statement signed by Joseph Chigbo, head, public communications, BPE, said that the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, on February 27, 2013, approved the sale of NITEL/MTEL through guided liquidation after several failed attempts in the past to privatise the enterprises. Under the guided liquidation strategy, tNITEL and MTEL are to be sold as a single lot to a qualified bidder by a liquidator under the guidance of the Bureau.
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