Five firms on Tuesday emerged bid winners, offering a total sum of N107bn for five electricity generation companies.
The bid winners are Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Plc), Amperion Consortium, CMEC/Eurafric Energy Consortium, Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited and North-South Power Company Limited.
At the financial bids’ opening conducted in Abuja by the National Council on Privatisation, Transcorp emerged the preferred bidder for the Ugheli thermal power plant with an offer of $300m to beat its closest rival, Amperion, which offered $252m.
The former Managing Director, United Bank for Africa Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu, is the chairman of Transcorp, with his Heirs Holdings having substantial equity in the conglomerate.
Amperion Consortium, however, matched the reserve bid price of $132m for the 414 megawatts Geregu power plant, though it initially offered $128.52m as the sole bidder for the plant.
The consortium is made up of Israeli-based BSG Resource Limited, State Grid Corporation of China and Forte Oil Plc, in which billionaire businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola, is the major stakeholder.
For the Sapele thermal power plant, CMEC/Eurafric Energy Consortium emerged the preferred bidder with an offer of $201m.
Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited, which was the sole bidder for the Kainji hydro plant, was designated the preferred bidder since its offer of $50.76m met the reserved fixed annual fee. However, the plant will not be sold outright but will be given out on a 15-year concession with the bid winner paying a commencement fee of $257m before the deal can be sealed.
Similarly, North-South Power Company Limited, which is linked to the former dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, emerged the preferred bidder for the Shiroro hydro power plant with a sole bid of $23.6m annually for a 15-year concession. The company will, however, pay a commencement fee of $111.65m to close the deal.
However, the bid for the Afam power plant was not opened as all the three bidders failed to meet the stipulated guidelines, according to the Chairman, Technical Committee, NCP, Mr. Atedo Peterside, who supervised the opening of the bids.
The Ugheli plant is situated in Delta State and has an installed capacity of 972 megawatts.
Members of the Transcorp consortium include Symbion Power Plc, a United States-based electricity infrastructure company; and Medea Development S.A, an engineering and projects development service company based in Luxemburg.
Other members of the consortium are PSL Engineering and Control, a Nigerian engineering and systems control firm; and Thomassen Services and Contracting Company, an engineering, procurement and construction firm based in Oman.
Amperion had offered $252m for the Ugheli plant to place second behind Transcorp, while Feniks Electricity came a distant third with an offer of $54m.
The CMEC/Eurafric Energy consortium beat the Julius Berger/Nestoil Power Services, which had to raise its offer from $80m to $106.5m to be designated as the reserve bidder.
The CMEC consortium is made up of China Machinery Engineering Corporation; Eurafric Energy Limited, a Nigerian power transmission contractor; British Power International; First Bank of Nigeria Plc; and Aelex Solicitors and Arbitrators, a legal advisory services firm.
Members of the Mainstream Energy Solution Limited, which won the bid for the Kainji plant include, RusHydro International and RusHydro JSC of Russia; a Nigerian businessman, Col. Sani Bello (retd); Amni International Petroleum Development Company Limited; and NIGELEC, a company based in Niger.
Others are Paqua Energy Limited; Confluence Cable Network Limited; Crust Energy; TAK; Anchorage Holdings Nigeria, a real estate development firm; and All Stream Energy Solutions, a Kaduna-based energy sector service company.
Members of the North-South Power consortium, winners of the Shiroro plant bid, are XS Energy Limited; BP Investment Limited; Urban Shelter Limited; Transatlantic Development and Investment Company; China International Water Electric; China Three Gorges Corporation; Niger State Government; and Roads Nigeria Plc.
Speaking at the conclusion of the financial bids opening, Peterside said the segments of the electricity sector were interwoven, adding that the results achieved were determined by the weakest link in the complex and interdependent chain.
He said, “The privatisation of the distribution companies is also on track and so we should reassemble here on October 16 for the commercial bids opening for the Discos.
“Substantial progress has also been made towards the seventh pillar, that is, the fuel-to-power segment and progress there is expected to be continuous.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator Gbenga Obadara, likened the financial bids opening to the auction for digital mobile licences conducted by the Nigerian Communications Commission in 2001.
He said if the nation could get the power sector right, the nation’s Gross Domestic Product would grow.
Aduda added that despite the privatisation of the companies, the National Assembly would continue to exercise oversight over them because they were being bought from the Nigerian people
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