25 investors bid for six PHCN generating firms

TWENTY five potential investors have submitted technical and financial bids for six electricity generating firms carved out of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

The Bureau of Public Enterprises said, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday that the firms submitted the bids on Tuesday, beating the July 17 deadline, which it had earlier set for bidders to submit their bids for the generating firms.

Some interested companies that reportedly came late were prevented from submitting their bids.

Four of the generating firms put up for sale are thermal plants while two are hydro plants.

The thermal power generating companies slated for privatisation are Ughelli Power Plc, situated in the Delta area in (South-South) with a total installed capacity of 972 MW; Geregu Power Plc in Kogi State (North Central) with an installed capacity of 414 MW; Afam Power Plc comprising Afam I-V power stations in Rivers State (South-South) with an installed capacity of 776 MW; and Sapele Power Plc in Delta State (South-South) with an installed capacity of 1020 MW.

The hydro power generating companies are Kainji Power Plc comprising Kainji Power Plants and Jebba Power Plants located in Niger and Kwara states, respectively in the North-Central; and Shiroro Power Plc located at the Shiroro Gorge, Niger State(North-Central).

The next stage of the privatisation exercise is the harvest of the bidders’ technical and financial proposals for 11 distribution companies.

The deadline for this exercise has been set for July 31.

The BPE had earlier selected 152 potential investors in the different successor firms from a list of 207, with 40 showing interest in the hydro generation companies; 87 in the thermal generation companies; and 80 in the distribution companies.

They had been pre-qualified and shortlisted to participate in the next phase of the privatisation process.

According to the transaction timeline, the evaluation of the technical bids will take place between August 14 and August 28.

The National Council on Privatisation is expected to approve the results of the technical evaluation on or before September 11, 2012.

The deadline for shortlisted bidders for the generation companies to submit their letters of credit is September 18 while October 2 is for shortlisted bidders for distribution companies.

NCP’s approval of the technical bids is expected to pave the way for the opening of financial bids for shortlisted investors.

The BPE would between September 25 and October 10 open the financial bids of prospective investors for the privatisation of the successor companies, BPE Spokesman, Chukwuma Nwokoh said in a statement.

The announcement of the preferred bidder for the 17 successor companies by the NCP would be made on or before October 23.

http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/25-investors-bid-for-six-phcn-generating-firms/