Nigerian Nitel bidder confident of meeting deadline
A Nigerian firm
involved in a $2.5 billion bid for former state telecomms monopoly,
Nitel, said on Wednesday it was optimistic it would meet a December
deadline to pay a 30 percent deposit to secure its bid.
GiCell won an
extension on November 5 of 20 working days, after failing to make a
deposit of $750 million by an earlier deadline because its financial
backers had developed what it described as “cold feet” over delays in
the sale process.
GiCell is part of
the New Generation consortium, the preferred bidder for Nitel, whose
technical partners include China’s second biggest carrier, China Unicom.
“We are working
tirelessly to meet the deadline, despite the challenges we are facing,”
GiCell managing director, Usman Gumi, told Reuters.
Questions have been
raised over the financing for the New Generation bid, which some
analysts said values Nitel at more than five times what it is worth.
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