Imported User:
Five hundred and twenty five bids for the successor companies created from Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have been shortlisted for the next stage in the privatisation of the electricity utility company, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said.
LEADERSHIP learnt that 253 and 272 bids were pre-qualified for distribution and generating companies respectively.
However, the BPE did not name the shortlisted firms.
According to a statement issued by BPE yesterday, the secretariat of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) had harvested 929 bids for individual successor companies from 331 expressions of interest (EOIs) received from prospective investors.
The list of pre-qualified bidders was approved by the chairman of the NCP, Vice President Namadi Sambo, in line with the privatisation procedure.
The pre-qualified bidders would be required to pay a $20, 000 (N3 million) fee for each company of interest and sign a confidentiality agreement before receiving bid documents and being admitted to the data room.
Potential bidders for the distribution companies are expected to be existing power distribution companies or core investor groups with power distribution companies as long-term technical partners. They will be responsible for operating the distribution companies, making the necessary investments to improve the distribution network and customer service in line with the objectives of the federal government set out in the National Electric Power Policy (NEPP).
As for the generating companies, potential bidders/concessionaires, who should be existing local and/or international power generators or investors with power generators as long-term technical partners, will be responsible for operating the stations, improving the generation capacity and making the necessary investments in line with the objectives of the federal government set out in the NEPP.
At the deadline of March 4, 2011, for the submission of bids by prospective investors, the BPE received 331 envelopes of EOIs. This was broken into 174 for generating companies and 157 for distributing companies.
However, total number of individual bids for the successor companies increased to 929 when the 331 EOIs envelopes were opened and individual bids sorted out. The breakdown of the individual bids showed that 529 bids were submitted for distribution companies and 400 bids for generating firms.
The statement stated that the BPE developed evaluation criteria in accordance with the requirements of the EOI. It also considered a benchmark that would provide reasonable basis for prequalifying bids. A strong inter-agency team constituted the evaluation committee that undertook the assignment.
It would also be recalled that between December 13 and 20, 2010, BPE had published adverts in local and foreign media inviting prospective core investors to express interest in the eleven distribution companies unbundled from the PHCN.
The BPE also invited prospective core investors to express interest in the four thermal power stations and as concessionaires for the two hydro power stations. The initial deadline for receipt of EOIs was February 18, 2011.
But following representations by prospective investors who attended the five-country Electric Power Investors’ Fora which was to court world-class investors to participate in the privatisation of the successor companies, the federal government approved the extension of the deadline for the submission of EOIs to March 4, 2011.
The approval was granted by Sambo. The fora were held in Lagos (January 18-19, 2011); Dubai (January 24-25); London (January 27-28); New York (February 1-2); and Johannesburg (February 10-11.)
Add new comment