Nigeria could be on its way to selling its state-owned telecom company after Brymedia Consortium offered to pay $900 million for the company. Nitel, which has now twice failed to sell after two previous deals fell through after the top two bids failed to make initial payments. Local Nigerian newspaper The Day reported the consortium has made an offer after reports the government had said it would take a “willing buyer willing seller” approach to the sale of the struggling government-owned telecom operator. The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) had ended the public sale process after the inability of both New Generation Consortium and Omen Consortium to pay, despite several extensions granted to them. Brymedia's CEO Adrian Wood was part of the starting of MTN Nigeria, serving as CEO. The consortium is said to be ready to pay to turn Nitel around. Wood is said to have done adequate due diligence on Nitel and believes in the potential of the ailing entity to be a major telecoms player in Nigeria. Wood's support includes the former CEO of Nitel, Edwin Momife; former CTO at MTN Demola Elesho; and the first CMO of MTN, Afam Edozien. The New Generation Consortium was named in February 2010 as the preferred bidder for the privatization of Nitel and its mobile unit M-Tel, with an offer of $2.5 billion. The reserve bidder Omen International came second with an offer of $957 million, while Brymedia emerged third with a bid of $550 million. The first two bids failed to make payment and lost the take over opportunity. BM
