In a matter of days, a new owner will be announced for the country’s fourth largest telecom network, 9mobile. The company, which was hitherto known as Etisalat, ran into troubled waters when it could not meet its obligations of $1.2billion to a consortium of 13 banks that were asking for the loan repayment with accrued interests. This forced its United Arab Emirate-based major shareholders to pull out of the company, giving up 45 per cent stake to a trustee after the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This left the local company with no option but to go for a name change. That was followed with the constitution of a new board. But the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), determined to protect the interest of the company’s millions of customers, decided to get a new owner for it so that it can operate optimally. Thus began the process of getting a new investor for the company.
At the initial stage, the process, supervised by Barclays Bank, the financial adviser to the creditor banks, had as many as 16 companies expressing interest in the takeover. The companies include, Globacom Limited, Virgin Mobile, Helios Investment Partners LLP, MTN, Smile Telecoms Holdings, Blackstone Private Equity, Ntel, Vodacom, Teleology Holdings Limited, Obot Etiebet & Co, Bharti Airtel, BUA Group, Morning Side Capital Partners, and Hamilton and George International Limited but a number of them baulked when it was time to back the expression of interest with a bank guarantee of $100m.
The number was further pruned down to five by Barclays Bank. Those who made the last five are Globacom Limited, Smile Telecoms Holdings, Bharti Airtel, Helios Investment Partners LLP and Teleology Holdings Limited.
Speaking recently about the takeover of the company, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, emphasized that the takeover would not be a hostile one, adding that whichever of the shortlisted bidders is eventually picked must be able to grow the business and deliver value to the subscribers.
His words, “In the final analysis, we will like to see a 9mobile taken over by a bidder who has the financial and technical capacity to improve on the operations of the telecom and add value in delivery of qualitative telecoms services in the country.”
Going by the submission of the NCC boss, the regulator is looking at picking a company that is financially strong, technically competent and sufficiently innovative to keep pace with other service providers. The question is which of the bidding companies fits the bill the most?


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