Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat has terminated its management agreement with its Nigerian arm and given the business time to phase out the brand in Nigeria, the chief executive of Etisalat International told Reuters on Monday.
Nigerian regulators intervened last week to save Etisalat Nigeria from collapse after talks with its lenders to renegotiate a $1.2 billion loan failed.
All UAE shareholders of Etisalat Nigeria have exited the company and have left the board and management, Hatem Dowidar said in an interview.
He said discussions were ongoing with Etisalat Nigeria to provide technical support, adding that it can use the brand for another three-weeks before phasing it out.
The Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) recently indicated its support for the new management of the embattled telephone operator, Etisalat Nigeria, which is currently trying to restructure its management and operations.
NCC’s support came shortly after a new board of the company emerged, with Joseph Nnanna as the new chairman.
Mr. Nnanna succeeds Hakeem Bello-Osagie, who was the only surviving shareholder after the June 15 withdrawal of the major shareholder, Emirates Telecommunications Group Company, from the company.
The Emirates Group, also known as Etisalat Group, was represented by its affiliate, Mubadala Development Company, a United Arab Emirate, (UAE), development firm.
Mr. Bello-Osagie, the promoter of Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services, (EMTS), which controlled 15 per cent of the equity holding of the company, resigned on Friday in the wake of the deepening debt crisis with a consortium of banks.
Other members of the new Board and management of the company as announced by the its spokesperson, Ibrahim Dikko, include Oluseyi Bickersteth, Ken Igbokwe, Boye Olusanya and Funke Ighodaro.
Under the new management, Boye Olusanya was named Chief Executive Officer.
He would replace Mathew Willsher, while Funke Ighodaro would take over from Olawole Obasunloye as Chief Finance Officer
The NCC said it was pleased that parties to the crisis were able to reach amicable terms that have set them on the path of resolving the crisis.
“The Commission is pleased to note that Etisalat and its creditors have successfully reached an amicable resolution of key issues pertaining to its indebtedness, and that a smooth transitional process is currently ongoing on mutually agreed terms,” said Director, Public Affairs of the Commission, Tony Ojobo, said in a statement.
He noted further that the Commission was confident the amicable resolutions reached by the parties will further strengthen Etisalat’s capacity to continue to provide services to its over 20 million customers and equally fulfill its obligations to its other stakeholders.
In its previous statement in the wake of the announcement of the formal exit of the major shareholder of the company, Emirates Telecommunications Group Company, and the threat by the banks to take over Etisalat, the NCC had warned that the operational license for the mobile telephone firm was not transferable to a third party.
One of the points that formed the core of the agreement on the restructuring of the $1.2 billion (about N377.4 billion) loan between the consortium of banks and Etisalat Nigeria was what all parties would do with the operating license.
Mr. Ojobo said the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003 empowered the Commission to take steps, by working with various interest groups to resolve the crisis and ensure the industry continued to play its critical role as a key driver of national socio-economic development.
He also said NCC’s intervention, along with its financial sector counterpart, the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), was informed by the need to sustain the telecommunication industry’s significant contribution to national gross domestic product, (GDP), in terms employment and infrastructure development.
In 2013, Etisalat had obtained the syndicated loan from a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks.
These banks included Access Bank, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank, United Bank for Africa Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
The loan, which involved a foreign-backed guaranteed bond, was to help the mobile firm finance a major network rehabilitation, upgrade and expansion of its operational base in Nigeria.
However, its alleged failure to meet agreed debt servicing obligations with the banks since 2016 triggered a major crisis which culminated in the crisis that has jolted the operations of the company, reputed to be Nigeria’s fourth largest telephone mobile operator.

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Etisalat: CBN, NCC intervene to save jobs, asset stripping

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/etisalat-cbn-ncc-intervene-save-jobs-asset-stripping/

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