Stick to deadline,FG tasks bidders on NITEL/Mtel

The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin E. Dikki, has tasked the prequalified bidders in the Guided Liquidation of NITEL/MTEL to strictly adhere to the deadline for the submission of the technical and financial proposals which scheduled to close 5pm Nigerian time on Friday 07 November 2014.

He however said that bidders were free to submit such proposals before the deadline, but emphasized that they 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 of time and deadlines without any compromise.
Dikki gave this admonition while declaring open a Pre-bid Conference for the Guided Liquidation of NITEL/MTEL, organized by the liquidator and the BPE at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja last Tuesday.
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.
The two prequalified consortia are Messrs NETTAG Consortium and Natcom Consortium. The Dikki noted that the pre-bid conference is an important milestone in the privatization of NITEL and MTEL.
In his overview of the liquidation transaction, the Liquidator, Otunba Olutola O. Senbore, noted 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.”
Otunba Senbore said this exercise is different from the past ones because it is a disposal of assets and businesses without encumbrances since they are free fo liabilities.
He said the transaction “by way of guided liquidation is more plausible, more bankable and more attractive.”
Senbore said 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.”
It would be recalled that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), on February 27th 2013, approved the sale of NITEL/MTEL through Guided Liquidation after several failed attempts in the past to privatize the enterprises. Under the guided liquidation strategy, NITEL and MTEL are to be sold as a single lot to a qualified bidder by a Liquidator under the guidance of the Bureau.
Senbore’s appointment was confirmed by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on March 14, 2014 and he commenced the process on March 25th 2014 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