Kunle Aderinokun
24 September 2008
Abuja — The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said it will commence the privatisation of Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC) next month and conclude it in October 2009.
Also, between October this year and March 2009, the BPE said it will embark on the commercialisation of four media enterprises - Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and Nigeria Film Corporation.
It also said it planned to undertake about 105 transactions from this year. This, the BPE said is in line with the work plan of the agency approved at the 55th meeting of the National Council on Privatization (NCP).
Likewise, the Bureau said it had concluded arrangements to start the privatisation of the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) this month and run the process till June 2009.
BPE's Head of Public Communications, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, who made this known yesterday in Abuja said, privatisation, commercialisation, reform, restructuring, diagnostic studies, public offers and handover were among the various transactions and activities the Bureau would carry out from now to the end of next year under the work plan endorsed last Monday by the NCP.
"A key transaction in the plan is the privatisation of Petroleum Pipeline Marketing Company (PPMC) which will go through privatisation process from October 2008 to October 2009. So too will the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) go through privatisation process from September 2008 to June 2009," he said.
In addition, Anichebe noted that BPE would initiate and seal the process of selling the outstanding 15 per cent Federal Government equity stake in Eleme Petrochemical Company Limited (EPCL) to workers (2.5 per cent) and host community (7.5 per cent) from October 2008 and March 2009.
The spokesman stated that, the ongoing privatisation of Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL/MTEL) for which BNP Paribas had been appointed transaction advisers would be completed within the next three to four months.
According to him, "advert for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) by core investors is expected to commence immediately; issuance of Request for Proposals (RFP) to bidders, November 3; access to data room and site visits as well as management presentation, and finalisation of transaction documents, will be concluded by November."
He said: "Preparation and submission of technical and financial bids with 50 per cent of bid amount will commence in January 2009, while the evaluation of technical proposals will conclude by late January and the approval of technical evaluation by Technical Committee and NCP will commence shortly after. Financial bid opening is expected by end of January and approval of financial offer by NCP will extend to February 2009 and negotiation/signing of Share Sale Purchase Agreement after full payment and handover is also expected to take place in February."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
