The Federal Government has declared Transcorp Power Plc as the preferred bidder for the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, made this known at the commissioning of the Afam 3-fast power plant in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State on Tuesday, May 9.

Osinbajo said Transcorp Power was approved as the preferred bidder of AEDC’s acquisition at the meeting of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) in Abuja on Monday, May 8.

The Vice President had, on Monday, presented a post-privatisation discharge certificate to Transcorp Power Plc.

He said: “A major breakthrough of our privatisation process, which of course, as you know, started in 2005-2006, was and has been inadequate of private investments and real cash injections.

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“From the time we started, an indigenous firm such as Transcorp Power and Heirs Holding have been making significant investments such as this 100 percent acquisition of installed capacity Afam Power Plc and Afam Three Fast Power Limited, jointly referred to as Afam GenCo. The acquisition cost, I am sure you have heard already, is N105.3 trillion.

“Only yesterday (Monday), the NCP formally delisted Transcorp Power Plc, formerly known as Ughelli Power Plc, from routine monitoring and evaluation by the BPE, indicating yet another successful power investment.

“I can say the last few days belong to Transcorp Power because at the meeting of the national council on privatisation (NCP), the council approved Transcorp Power Consortium as the preferred bidder of the acquisition of the Abuja Distribution Company, Osinbajo stated.

It would be recalled that the United Bank of Africa (UBA), in December 2021, took over AEDC over the inability of its major stakeholder, Kann Consortium, to pay $122 million debt owed to the bank.

Kann Consortium had secured a loan from UBA to acquire AEDC in 2013, making it hold a 60 per cent stake in the DisCo.

However, the bank, in April 2023, said it would sell AEDC to recover the $122 million debt.

The Star