9mobile Appoints Consultants to Source Investors

Segun Atanda/

9mobile, formerly Etisalat Nigeria, has appointed advisers to manage the process of attracting investors to take over the telecoms company and has seen strong interest, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed, on Tuesday.

CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who spoke after the bank’s policy meeting, said advisers would manage the search for a major investor to acquire the company.

He described 9mobile’s revenue base as stable, adding that the telecoms company made N16 billion in June and had not lost subscribers due to the debt crisis.

“I am very gratified at the surge by potential investors who have written showing interest. Advisers will eventually call for RFPs (request for proposals), everyone will go into a data room and conduct due diligence, and the best person will win,” Emefiele told reporters in Abuja.

Emefiele said the apex bank’s intervention in the company’s management through the interim board was temporary and that it should not last more than 90 to 180 days.

He also said that the regulatory intervention had been positive as it had saved the company from “dismemberment” by creditors.

9mobile has 20 million subscribers with a 14 percent share of the Nigerian market. South Africa’s MTN has 47 percent, Globacom 20 percent and Airtel – a subsidiary of India’s Bharti Airtel – 19 percent.

The company took out a $1.2 billion loan four years ago from 13 local banks to refinance existing debt and expand its mobile network, but it struggled to repay due to a currency crisis and recession in Nigeria.

The crisis forced the telecoms company’s one-time UAE parent, Etisalat, to terminate its management agreement with its Nigerian business and surrender its 45 percent stake to a trustee following regulatory intervention.

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