10 Firms Make It To 9mobile Bidding
Stage
...Regulators raise serious concerns
...Regulators raise serious concerns
Which firm will acquire 9mobile? This is the question on the lips of investment analysts who have raised their permutation game on the eventual suitor for the telco. So far, 10 of the 16 companies who had submitted their expressions of interest(EoIs) for snapping 9mobile, have progressed to the next stage.
Financial advisor
Barclays prequalified the ten
firms to advance to the financial bid stage of the process. Those prequalified list the cellular arm of
the First National Operator, Globacom, the Indian parent of third-placed Airtel
Nigeria, Bharti Airtel; Dangote Group’s telecoms business unit, Alheri
Engineering; pan-African LTE operator Smile Telecoms Holdings; infrastructure
company Helios Towers; Centricus Capital with Africell, a subsidiary of
Lebanon-based Lintel Group; Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital;
Teleology Holdings Limited; pan-African investment firm Africa Capital Alliance
(ACA); and The Carlyle Group from the US.
The companies will be required to submit bid bonds of US$150
million each as part of the financial bid process.
The lenders of 9mobile hired Barclays to scout for new investors for the Nigeria’s fourth largest telco by subscribers.
The lenders of 9mobile hired Barclays to scout for new investors for the Nigeria’s fourth largest telco by subscribers.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s central bank (CBN) and telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commision (NCC) have expressed reservations over how Barclays Africa is handling the sale of 9mobile. The
authorities believe companies with strong financial standing and advanced
technical capabilities were dropped from the final bidding process.
In a joint
letter, the CBN and the NCC said they want the sale process to be “transparent and fair”,
but stated financial adviser Barclays Africa had “repeatedly exhibited signs of
opacity”.
“Given the overriding public interest in the company and the need for
transparency, we advised that Barclays advertise the call for ‘expression of
interest’. Barclays declined, insisting instead that the company, being a
private one, should not be taken through a public sale,” the pair wrote.
“This lack of a transparent process has proven to be selective and arbitrary, leading to allegations that the process is being teleguided to a rigged and predetermined outcome. The CBN and the NCC will not fold their arms and allow this to materialise,” they added.
“This lack of a transparent process has proven to be selective and arbitrary, leading to allegations that the process is being teleguided to a rigged and predetermined outcome. The CBN and the NCC will not fold their arms and allow this to materialise,” they added.
Executive vice-chairman of NCC, Umar Garba Danbatta, and CBN governor Godwin Emefiele
said their concerns were heightened following complaints from stakeholders,
including some bidders.
CBN and NCC called for all decisions taken by the financial adviser to be
approved by them in writing and said a 31 December deadline for the handover of
9mobile to the preferred bidders is “sacrosanct”.
The letter was sent to GTBank, the facility agent for a $1.2 billion loan Etisalat Nigeria was unable to pay to a consortium of banks, leading to parent Etisalat terminating a management agreement and the operator being rebranded as 9mobile.
Ten companies reportedly moved to the financial stage of the bid process, including Globacom Nigeria Limited, Bharti Airtel, Smile Telecoms Holdings, Helios Towers and Africell.
The letter was sent to GTBank, the facility agent for a $1.2 billion loan Etisalat Nigeria was unable to pay to a consortium of banks, leading to parent Etisalat terminating a management agreement and the operator being rebranded as 9mobile.
Ten companies reportedly moved to the financial stage of the bid process, including Globacom Nigeria Limited, Bharti Airtel, Smile Telecoms Holdings, Helios Towers and Africell.
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