Sources in the know have hinted that plans are in the advance stage in the bid to swiftly restructure Etisalat Nigeria by setting a new management and appoint a new board. This is coming in the wake of the resignation of its incumbent Chairman, Hakeem Bello-Osagie and call for new buyout investors under its new shareholding structure.
Among competing investors who were said to be pitching for at-least 65% stake of the embattled company following to purchase 65% of Etisalat Nigeria following the departure of the United Arab Emirates-based Etisalat Group from its Nigerian business is the French multinational telecommunications corporation, Orange telecoms and technology servicing company, Vodafone.
NewswatchNigeria also gathered that, discussion with the two companies are at advanced stages with only the restructuring of the over N370 billion debt remaining as the major snag.
Negotiators for Etisalat, which it was learnt, include the immediate past Chairman of the company, Akeem Bello Osagie, Representatives of the 13 creditor banks and representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communications Commission, are working hard to expedite discussions to mitigate any collateral damage and brand erosion that may compromise the business of the future owners.
It was also learnt that the banks were ensuring a workable repayment plan is extracted from the would-be new owners.
The discussion, NewswatchNigeria understood, is factoring the huge costs for rebranding that may take a huge chunk of capital in the first one year after the takeover.
Of the two companies, Orange seems to have had some issues in its African operations and the issues it had in Kenya where it sold its assets in Kenya Telekom stands to private equity firm Helios Investment Partners may be strong consideration against it.
Orange completed the sale in settlement of an agreement originally signed in November 2015 between the two companies and following the agreement of the Kenyan authorities.
Orange, which then was the second international operator to exit from Kenya, after an earlier exit by Safaricom, had tried in November 2014 to sell its majority shareholding in Telkom Kenya to Vietnamese telecom firm Viettel, but this attempt failed when the Kenyan government rejected a number of Viettel’s conditions.
While Vodafone on its part has had significant experience in Africa countries and Nigeria where it has been providing technology services to companies.
Recently, the company was reported to be working to consolidate some of its operations in sub-Saharan Africa into a single entity as part of its “single, coordinated Africa strategy”.
It has operations in Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo with other assets in other African countries like Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya.
A statement obtained from Etisalat on Friday confirmed Mr. Bello-Osagie’s decided to quit following “the approval of the restructuring plan for the telecommunications firm.”
“Although the Chairman had planned to leave immediately the banks made the take-over move, he opted to tarry until a road map for the company was finalised. The timing of the resignation was strategically delayed till now when stakeholders have agreed a plan,” the statement said.
“The development reflects Mr. Bello-Osagie’s deep commitment to protecting the interest of all stakeholders. It is now expected that Etisalat Nigeria under its new shareholding structure will navigate through its current loan repayment challenge with minimum impact.
“Over the last several months, the Chairman has worked extensively with critical stakeholders to prepare clearly articulated strategies and robust road maps that will mitigate the impact of the new shareholding restructuring and realignment on the operations and management of the 4th largest telecoms player in Nigeria,” the statement said.
The former Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, UBA, was the only surviving shareholder in the embattled mobile operator currently embroiled in a $1.2 billion (about N377.4 billion) loan repayment crisis with a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks.
He was the promoter of Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services, EMTS, which controlled 15 per cent of the equity holding of the company.
Last week, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, company, in a filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in Abu Dhabi requested EMTS Holding BV to transfer all of its 85 per cent shareholdings in Etisalat Nigeria to United Capital Trustees Limited, the legal trustees of the banks, latest June 23, 2017.
Since then, Etisalat Nigeria had been logged in series of negotiations involving the consortium of banks, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to restructure the remains of the telephone operator’s management.
In 2013, Etisalat had obtained the syndicated loan from a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks, including Access Bank, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank, United Bank for Africa Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
The loan, which involved a foreign-backed guaranteed bond, was to help the mobile firm finance a major network rehabilitation, upgrade and expansion of its operational base in Nigeria.
However, its alleged failure to meet agreed debt servicing obligations with the banks since 2016 triggered a major crisis, culminating in the recent withdrawal of its majority shareholder and resignation of Mr. Bello-Osagie.
