Airtel, Glo and three others Make bid to take over 9mobile

Five firms are bidding to acquire telecom firm 9Mobile (formerly Etisalat), The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.

It was learnt that the five were picked as qualified among the 16 that expressed interest, the financial advisers on the bid.

NCC Executive Vice Chairman Prof. Umar Danbatta said yesterday the five successful bidders had been “allowed access to the data room of 9mobile in order for them to assess the financial situation of the company and subsequently make bids for the takeover under a regulated manner.”

He added: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NCC are supervising what is going on through the Interim Board that was jointly appointed by both of them. We are going to look into the financial standings of the potential bidders as well as their technical capacity.

“In the final analysis we would like to see 9mobile taken over by a bidder who has the financial as well as technical capacity to fulfill all the requirements of the telecos to provide quality services to the country.”