Nigeria signed deals for the sale of 15 state power companies to buyers including Siemens AG (SIE), Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEP) and Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc, the West African nation’s privatization agency said.
The buyers now have 15 days to pay 25 percent of the amounts they bid, the Abuja-based Bureau of Public Enterprises said today in an e-mailed statement. The Nigerian government sold 10 power distributors and five generation companies in September and October. Full payment is due within 90 days.
Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, is selling majority stakes in power plants and letting private investors acquire as much as 60 percent stakes in 11 distribution companies spun out of the former state-owned utility.
Blackouts are a daily occurrence in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than 160 million people. Electricity demand is almost double the supply of about 4,000 megawatts. The government is offering incentives to investors, including five- year tax breaks and permission to charge higher electricity tariffs, according to the BPE.
The country expects to earn $1.3 billion from the sale of the 10 power distributors and about $700 million for five power plants that the privatization council also approved for sale.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net
Culled From Businessweek
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