THE Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) has announced that the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) had been sold for N100 billion.
The Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AMCON, Gbenga Alake, confirmed the sale during a media parley with media executives on Thursday, July 3.
In January 2022, The ICIR reported that AMCON and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company’s core investors reached an agreement to put on hold the takeover of the DisCo assets.
However, in April 2024, the Federal Government said it would sell five power distribution companies under the management of banks and AMCON.
The DisCo, managed by AMCON, is one of five listed firms. Others are the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, and Kano Electricity Distribution Company.
This development, energy analysts say, is a result of rising liquidity problems that the Federal Government had to deal with despite the privatisation of the power sector more than 10 years ago.
Speaking at the media parley, Alake said the company would soon hand over the power firm to the preferred bidder.
“Today, I announce to you that Ibadan DisCo has been sold. When we came in, it had already been sold. It was sold for how much? We got in and said no, it cannot be. We said they should go and submit a new offer that we were not going to sell for that.
“At the end of the day, we got almost double of what Ibadan DisCos was going to be sold for.”
Alake said the sale had triggered legal battles, with “so many interests now fighting and writing”.
(ICIR)
