The prospect that 9Mobile will yet undergo another name change now looms large. It has passed through various names, culminating in Etisalat before it acquired its latest name, 9Mobile
The Nigerian telecoms industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has given further clarification on the true position of the impending sale of 9mobile by Barclays Africa, in relation to the January 16, 2018 date earlier announced as deadline for the bidding.
Contrary to expectations that all the shortlisted five investors that are currently bidding to acquire 9mobile would know their fate on January 16 when Barclays Africa would announce the winner, the NCC has said January 16 date is the deadline for the submission of final bids by the five contenders and not the date to announce the winner.
NCC also made it clear that none of the bidders has been favoured to win the 9mobile acquisition as speculated by some online publications. In a statement issued by its Corporate Affairs Department last week, the NCC said: “Barclays Africa remains in full control of the process leading to the emergence of a new owner for the company. Barclays has not authorised any publication on the matter and is obliged to maintain full confidentiality thereon.”
The statement further said that an approval for the request for extension of time by the 9mobile interim board was given by the two regulators – NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This sets the deadline for the receipt of binding offers from the prospective bidders till January 16, 2018.
The NCC and CBN will be duly notified once the 9mobile interim board accepts Barclays’ recommendations and a winning bid is determined in accordance with the terms of the exercise.
The winner will now apply to NCC in order to commence the processes for securing the regulatory approvals from the board of the NCC necessary to give full effect to the transfer.
Barclays Africa is expected to submit its recommendation to the board after it must have reviewed the final bid submission, whose deadline is January 16.
It will definitely take the board members some more time to meet and either give their consent or disapprove the recommendation of Barclays Africa, an indication that the winner might not likely be announced before the end of this month.
