BUSINESS 17 coys jostle to buy MTEL/NITEL
At least 17 investors have signified their interests to buy the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL) and its mobile arm, Mobile Telecommunications Ltd (MTEL), in the ongoing guided liquidation exercise of the national telecom carrier.
The liquidator, Olutola Senbore & Co, appointed by the federal government to dispose of the companies recently announced bidders for the asset after the June 30 deadline for Expression of Interest (EoIs).
The EoIs are expected to be evaluated and successful bidders announced soon.
Spokesperson for the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Chigbo Anichebe, confirmed by text that “the bidding has not been scheduled yet, but it was announced that the liquidator received 17 EoIs and they are being evaluated”
Government had opted for a ‘guided liquidation’ option because the expected proceeds from the NITEL would likely be less than its debts value. The moribund firm owes creditors, mostly suppliers, around N400 billion.
Before NITEL was placed under liquidation, there were several unsuccessful attempts to sell it. In 2010, a consortium including Dubai’s Minerva and China’s second-biggest carrier, ChinaUnicom, bid $2.5 billion for the state telecom carrier, more than five times its value, but could not raise the cash to pay for it.
The government then approached Omen consortium, the reserved bidder, who offered to pay $959 million after the preferred bidder missed several payment deadlines. This was the attempt that came closest to selling the ailing telecom firm, but Omen did not provide the necessary deposit.
The assets on bid for NITEL are the licenses and the spectrum, the nationwide fixed wired networks, the fibre optic transmission backbone, the CDMA network system, among other towers and core assets.