The panel that was set up in March 2010 by Nigerian President to probe the most prospective purchasers of former Nigerian state telecommunications monopolist Nitel, has submitted its report on these two companies to the president and is waiting for further directions.
There were some doubts about the financial backers of a US$2.5 million preferred bid approved by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) – this was five times more than some industry analysts said it was worth. This bid was done by the New Generation consortium including China Unicom, China’s second-biggest carrier, Dubai company Minerva and local firm GiCell. Another company investigated was British Virgin Islands-registered consortium Omen International – a reserved bidder with a US$956 million offer.
In case the probe of the BVI and Chinese consortia would show the two bidders were unable to stump up the funds for their offer prices. BPE spokesman Chukwuma Nwoko said that there were issues arising from both of the bidders sharing the same technical partner.
According to some sources, there were two options in the panel’s report – the first that New Generation be allowed to pay a US$750 million deposit in the next 10 days, the second that negotiations should take place with the second and third reserve bidders (including the BVI company).