ALSCON: BPE Denies Frustrating BFIGroup
From Cletus Akwaya in Abuja
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) yesterday said it did nothing to frustrate erstwhile bid winners, BFIGroup of America from taking over the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON)in Ikot - Abasi, Akwa- Ibom state.
Rather, the privatisation agency claimed BFIGroup, which won the bid for 77.5 per cent of Federal Government's equity in the company knocked itself out of the transaction by failing to pay 10 per cent of the bid price of $410 million within 15 working days as stipulated in the ground rules for the transaction.
In a swift response, however, President of the BFIGroup, Dr Reuben Jaja, said the BPE was biased against his corporation and therefore misled President Olusegun Obasanjo into refusing his organisation's request for a 10-day extension of time to pay the 10 per cent of the bid price.
In a statement in Abuja by Head of Communications and Marketing, Charles Odenigbo, BPE said BFIGroup did not make request for extension of time to pay the 10 per cent of bid price.
Instead, the statement said BFIGroup's letter dated July 6, but which was delivered on July 8, when the deadline was due to expire was a request that an escrow account be opened in a neutral country for payment of $41million , a process which the company said would take 10 days to accomplish.
BPE said, however, that since BFIGroup did not sign the share purchase agreement before the first 15 working days and since it failed to pay on the midnight of July 8, its status as the preferred bidder had elapsed.
But Jaja who spoke to THISDAY in Abuja said the letter requesting for extension of time was faxed to BPE on July 6 contrary to BPE's claim. He also alleged that when he arrived on July 7, to sign the SPA, Director General of BPE, Dr. Julius Bala, asked him and his team members to return the following day for the exercise since it was too late for the day.
He said that the following day, his team was "dribbled" by continued shifts in the signing ceremony on July 8, until July 9, when the BPE eventually conveyed a letter declining his request for extension of time.
"It is completely untrue, we are serious. Nobody will give you $1million cash to hold and then start playing games. Nobody will commit enormous resources, assemble 38 experts, very prestigious professionals in America, the finest in aluminium engineering, those who made up Reynolds, assemble all those people , contract with all those people, pay them, bring them into your fold, stop them from undertaking other activities and then start playing games," he said.
Accusing the BPE of bias, Jaja said he had requested that the letter in which his company raised the issue of escrow be forwarded to President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar but this was not done by the BPE.
Nevertheless, he said he had full confidence in the "wisdom, sense of justice and fairness by our President Olusegun Obasanjo" to revisit the issue, adding that he was very much committed to the acquisition of ALSCON and had a superior programme to run the company as contained in the strategic/business plan already with the BPE.
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