Photo caption: Ibadan DisCo
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria has announced the sale of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company as part of renewed efforts to divest distressed assets and intensify debt recovery across the country.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of AMCON, Gbenga Alade, during a media conference held in Lagos on Thursday, said the sale of IBEDC followed a revised bidding process after AMCON rejected the initial offer.
AMCON officials explained that the firm owns a 60 per cent stake in IBEDD, while the Bureau of Public Enterprises has the remaining 40 per cent. The 60 per cent stake of AMCON is what the firm has sold.
Alade declared IBEDC sold and explained how his leadership rejected an earlier lowball offer, stating, “I announce to you that Ibadan Disco has been sold. When we came in, it had already been sold. We got in and said no, it cannot be. We said they should go and submit a new offer that we were not going to sell for that (the initial offer). At the end of the day, we got almost double what Ibadan Disco was going to be sold for.”
While some reports have priced the sale of the facility at N100bn, The PUNCH reports that there were counterclaims on the worth of the facility, following a lawsuit which alleged that AMCON had proposed the sale of a 60 per cent stake in IBEDC for $62m.
Meanwhile, Alade noted that AMCON would soon hand over IBEDC to the preferred bidder even as legal disputes persist. He remarked, “We have sold it… and whatever is still happening in court, we will face it.”
Developments around the transaction of IBEDC have drawn criticism. In May, a group, the African Initiative Against Abuse of Public Trust, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against AMCON, IBEDC, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, and the Bureau of Public Enterprises.
The group alleged a deal to sell the Ibadan Disco was “secretive and illegal,” and claimed the 60 per cent stake was undervalued at $62m compared to $169m in 2013.
But Alade said AMCON is committed to transparency and is not distracted by what he described as skewed narratives from obligors resisting repayment.
He stressed, “These obligors damaged the Nigerian economy because they never intended to repay the loans they borrowed from various banks. Unfortunately for them, we were told of this trend before we assumed office.
“We are not deterred by these antics. Our appointment is a call to serve the motherland, and we will deliver that with all humility and sincerity of purpose.”
Alade, who described AMCON’s recovery task as one of the toughest jobs he has faced, said many of the agency’s recalcitrant debtors occupy high positions in government.
“Dealing with such debtors… is one of the most challenging tasks that I have ever faced in my career,” he said. He noted that AMCON would continue to pursue its mandate with “the fear of God, love of country, and… the rule of law.”
With the lifting of the moratorium on asset sales, AMCON has resumed divestments in key sectors. “We have sold some high-profile assets running into several billions of naira,” Alade declared.
He disclosed that Arik Air (in Receivership) is returning to profitability, while Aero Contractors is now the only Nigerian airline with a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul facility. “That can only be the result of effective and prudent management,” he noted.
AMCON has also hired foreign asset tracers to locate assets hidden abroad by debtors, noting, “We have commissioned some foreign asset tracers who will help us locate where some of these obligors have hidden their assets across the globe.”
He added that AMCON’s recovery drive has received strong backing from President Bola Tinubu, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the judiciary, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Attorney General of the Federation, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Police, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, and the National Assembly.
