Construction giant Julius Berger, First Bank, Transcorp and Forte Oil, owned by businessman Femi Otedola, are among the consortia of companies named as successful bidders for the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) generation firms.
Five of the six generation companies were put up for the bid. The sixth – Afam Generation Company – was excluded becausenon of the three companies that submitted bids for it was qualified.
The six generation companies arepart of the 18 firms in the unbundled PHCN – the power behomoth that has failed to take this country out of darkness.
National Council on Privatisation (NCP) chair Mr. Atedo Peterside announced the result.
The companies are located in Geregu, Ughelli, Sapele, Shiroro and Kainji.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) named a consortium, which includes Transcorp Nigeria Plc, as the highest bidder for the Ughelli Power Plc, with an offer of $300 million.
The consortium of Transcorp and Wood Rock/Symbion Power/Medea/PSL/Thomasen emerged as the preferred bidder over Amperion Power DistributionLtd and Feniks Electricity.
Amperion, a consortium, which includes Forte Oil Plc, a petrol marketing firm with majority shares owned by Otedola, offered$252 million to emerge as reservebidder.
Symbion Power is a United States (U.S) electricity company, Medea isa Luxemburg-based engineering firm. PSL is an indigenous firm and Thomassen Services, an Oman engineering company.
For Geregu Power Plant, a group known as Amperion Power Distribution Ltd, which includes Forte Oil Plc, won with a bid of 132 million.
Other partners in Amperion include Guernsey, a company located in a United Kingdom (UK) protectorate in Europe and Shanghai Municipal Electric Powerof China.
For Sapele Power Plc, CMEC/Eurafric Energy JV, a consortium, which includes financial giant FirstBank Nigeria Plc, won the bid with an offer of$201 million.
The reserved bidder for Sapele is a group comprising Julius Berger Nigeria, which offered $106.5 million above the reserve price of$106 million.
North-South Power Company Ltd, with former Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida as a promoter, Niger State governmentas a stakeholder, won the bid for Shiroro Power Plant, offering$23.6 million.
Other core investors in the company include indigenous firms XS Energy Ltd, BP InvestmentLtd, Urban Shelter Ltd and Road Nigeria Plc.
The “Shiroro Group’’ also has China International Water Electric and China Three Gorges Corporation, an electric power utility company.
For Kainji, Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd, a consortium whichincludes businessman Col. Sani Bello, and NIGELEC, a Niger Republic registered company, is the preferred bidder, with an offer of $50.7 million.
The companies offered a total$1.119billion for the five companies.
The eight firms that qualified for the five companies are: Amperion Power Distribution Company Limited (Geregu), Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (Kainji), North-South Power Company Limited (Shiroro), Amperion Power Distribution Company Limited (Ughelli), Feniks Electricity Limited (Ughelli), Transcorp & Woodrock/ Symbion/ Medea/ PSL/Thomassen (Ughelli), CMEC/Eurafric Energy JV (Sapele) and JBN-Nestoil Power Services Limited (Sapele).
The NCP reminded Amperion Power Distribution Limited that the rules allow it to win only one generation company.
Peterside said: “Out of the 23 bidsthat made it to the evaluation stage, 10 failed the first test of completeness and responsiveness. The remaining 13bids were then subjected to full technical evaluation. Out of the 13bids, eight scored the minimum of 75 per cent that was required to progress to the next stage. Thebidders that scored 75 per cent and above were asked to submit the post-qualification bidders’ guarantee, following the approvalof the evaluation results by NCP.
“Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) also observed the entire process from bid submission to the conclusion of evaluation. Theywere, therefore, witnesses to the fact that all late-comers were turned back.”
The NCP chairman said there was no controversy over the sale of generation plants located in Kainjiand Shiroro in Kwara and Niger states.
“Kainji and Shiroro are hydro assets; you cannot sell River Nigerand you can only give a consensus to the people utilising it. So there is no controversy over the issue of hydro plants,” he said.
Mr Obinna Okudo, Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp, told reporters that his company would“deliver optimum services to Nigerians.’’
“We are going to let Nigerians know that a Nigerian company can lead a foremost Nigerian sector (electricity),’’ he said shortlyafter his company was announced as the preferred bidder for Ughelli.
Source: NigerianEye