The deadline for the sale of 9mobile has been postponed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) following a letter from the Board of Directors of 9mobile seeking for an extension of time. In a letter written to the Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Umar Danbatta acknowledged the risk posed by the year-end deadline for submission of binding offers by prospective bidders for the purchase of 9mobile.
The letter read in part;
“The commission is in receipt of a letter dated 29th November 2017 by which the Board of Directors of Emerging Markets Telecoms Services Ltd. (9Mobile) requested for an extension of the deadline for the submission of binding offers by prospective bidders from 31st December 2017 to 16th of January 2018.
Having carefully considered the reasons given for the proposed extension in the letter under reference, the commission confirms that it has no objection to the request and that the extension can be communicated to the company."
“We thank you for your kind consideration.”
According to Dailytrust, 9mobile is being prepared for sale by Barclays Africa. Five bidders have made the final list of potential buyers: Teleology Holdings Limited, promoted by Adrian Wood, the pioneer CEO of MTN Nigeria; Smile Telecoms Holdings, a telco operating in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo DR and South Africa; and Helios Investment Partners LLP, an investment company.
Others are Bharti Airtel, an Indian telco that owns Airtel Nigeria, and Globacom, the Nigerian company owned by Mike Adenuga Jnr.
