BPE receives 20 bids from prospective investors for Afam, Kaduna electricity distribution firms

BPE has received bids from prospective investors for Afam Plc and Kaduna Distribution Companies.

The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, said on Wednesday that it has received 20 bids from prospective investors at the close of submission of bids for Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Distribution Companies.

Details of the bids received showed that nine were from companies interested in Afam Power Plc, while 11 were for Kaduna Distribution Company.

At the January 31, 2013 deadline for the submission of Expressions of Interest, EOIs, from prospective bidders for the two power companies, BPE said it received 19 applications for Kaduna Disco and 29 for Afam Generation Company.

However, the privatization agency said it dispatched Requests for Proposals, RFP, to the 48 prospective bidders on February 4, 2013.
Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc were among the 17 successor companies of the Power Holding Company Nigeria (PHCN) that were earlier advertised for sale in December 2010 along with 15 others that went through a full competitive tender process, which culminated in the submission of technical and financial proposals in July 2012.

However, after a technical evaluation of all the bids, none of the bids received for Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc scored the minimum 75 per cent required to progress to the financial bid stage.

Consequently, the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, was compelled to order a re-run of the entire transaction process as it was not prepared to settle for a second best.

The pre-due diligence conference for the re-tender of Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc was held in Abuja on Monday, March 4.