Transcorp Wins Bid to Acquire Afam Power for N105.3bn

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The N105.3 billion bid submitted by Transcorp Power Consortium for the acquisition of Afam Power Plc has been accepted.

The bidding for Afam Power closed in the second round after the potential investors were asked to go and reverse their bids for a second round.

At the first round of the bidding exercise, Unicorn was the highest bidder with a bid of N100.45 billion, while Transcorp followed with a bid of N89.37 billion, with Diamond Stripes Consortium submitting a bid of N72.73 billion.

But at the second bidding, Transcorp Power Consortium, which already operates the Ugheli Power Plant, increased its offer to N105.3 billion to emerge the highest bidder. It will now become 100 percent equity owner of the electricity generation company (GenCo).

With this latest development, Transcorp will have to a BPE Management Fee of five percent of the total bid value.

Similarly, Quest Electricity won the bid for 60 per cent equity in Yola Electricity Distribution Plc with a bid of N19 billion.

Another consortium, Diamond Stripes Consortium, was declared the reserve bidder for the power company with a bid of N102.39 billion while Unicorn Power Generation Consortium came third with a bid of N101.05 billion.

On the other hand, Quest Electricity Nigeria Limited, which was the sole bidder for Yola Electricity Distribution Company, submitted an initial bid of N17.67 billion.

However, the company reversed its bid at the second round when it was told that its bid did not meet the reserve price set by the National Council on Privatisation.

Vice-Chairman, Technical Committee of NCP, Dr Ayo Teriba, who chaired the ceremony, said the winning and reserve bids were subject to the approval of the NCP chaired by the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

He said, “The transaction of the enterprises will legally come to a close with the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement and any other related documents by each preferred bidder as approved by the NCP.

“Payment will be made in naira through the Remita Retrieval Reference in favour of BPE; 25 percent of the purchase consideration should be made within seven working days from the date of signing the Share Purchase Agreement.

“The remaining 75 percent payment will be paid to BPE within 180 calendar days after signing of the Share Purchase Agreement.”