Transcorp acquires Afam Power Plc for N105.3bn

The Transcorp Power Consortium, yesterday, emerged the highest bidder to acquire the Afam Power Plc and Afam Three Fast Power for N105,300,000,000.

Similarly, the Quest Electricity Company Limited also paid N19,000,000,000 to take ownership of the Yola Electricity Distribution Company, Yola, in Adamawa State.

While the Transcorp Power Consortium acquired 100% of Federal Government shareholding in Afam Power Plc and Afam Three Fast Power Limited, located in Oyingbo, Rivers State, the Quest Electricity acquired the government’s 60% share in Yola Electricity Distribution Company.

Quest Electricity was sole bidder for the Yola DISCO, while three companies, Transcorp Power Consortium, Diamond Stripes Consortium and Unicorn Power Consortium, respectively, bidded for the Afam Power Plc and Afam Three Fast Power,

This was the climax of the opening of commercial and financial bids for the privatisation of the power assets, which saw the Diamond Stripes Consortium and Unicorn Power Consortium to emerge first and second runner up, in the most transparent bids exercise.

In the first bids, all the companies failed to meet the requirement to bid above the reserve prices, thereby forcing the representatives of Chairman of Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation, Dr. Ayo Teriba to give bidders 15 minutes within which to revise their financial bids.

During the first, Transcorp Power Consortium bided N85, 100,000,000.00, Unicorn Power Consortium bids N95, 667,000,000.00, and Diamond Stripes’ N69, 270,690,420.95 as well as the Quest Electricity, which offered, N16, 777,777,777.

It was during the revise exercise that Transcorp Power Consortium upped its offer to N105, 300,000,000, the Diamond Stripes Consortium offered to pay 102, 388, 150, 000, Unicorn Power Consortium offers N101, 050, 000, 000 for the GENCO assets.

The sole bidder for Yola DISCO, Quest Electricity, which offer to pay N16, 777,777,777, was to later increase the offer to N19, 000,000,000 after it was told that what it offered did not meet the reserve price set by the Bureau of Public Enterprise(BPE).

In his opening address, the Director General of BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, recalled that in line with the approval of National Council On Privatisation, NCP, the BPE placed an advertisement in relevant newspapers to call for Expressions of Interest from prospective Bidders for the acquisition
The power assets to acquire he said, include100% of the equity capital of Afam Power,100% of the share capital of Afam Three Fast Power Limited (ATFPL) jointly called Afam Power
He said, a publication also called for Expressions of Interest in the acquisition of 60% of the share capital of Yola Electricity Distribution Company, YEDC.
Mr. Okoh recalled that at the deadline for the submission, EOIs were received from 12 firms and consortia for Afam Power.