CPL Agric, Labana Ventures win bid for Nigeria Hotels
Oluyinka Akintunde, Abuja
CPL Agric Limited and Labana Glover Ventures Nigeria Limited, on Tuesday, emerged winners of the bid for the government equity stake in Ore-Irele Oil Palm in Ondo State and the Nigeria Hotel Limited in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Dr. Julius Bala, who supervised the opening of the bids, however, stated that both winners did not meet the reserve price for the two companies; thus could not be declared as preferred bidders for the transactions.
�Both CPL Agric and Labana Glover Ventures are winners of these transactions and not preferred bidders as their bid prices are below the reserve prices. We would, however, submit the bids offered by the two companies to the National Council on Privatisation for its approval and acceptance,� Bala stated.
CPL Agric staked the sum of N166.02 million, representing an increase of 906 per cent over its initial bid price of N16.50 million in the first round, for the 60 per cent shares of the government in the Oil Palm Company, to win the bid ahead of its major contender, the Godsmart Limited, which offered a bid price of N50.01 million in the second and final round of bidding.
The third bidder for the Ore-Irele Oil Palm, Stallion Group, however, withdrew before the opening of the financial bids.
The bid for the Nigeria Hotel Limited was hotly contested by Labana Glover Ventures, Nigeria Ports Authority, Union Bank of Nigeria Property Company Limited, Integrated Services Limited, Grand Towers Plc and Forllion TransAtlantic Limited, while Windlass Resources Limited withdrew from the race.
Nigeria Ports Authority led the race for the hotel in the first round of the bidding process with its price of N300 million, while UBN Property Company, Labana Glover Venture Nigeria, Grand Towers, Forllion TransAtlantic Limited and Integrated Services offered N160 million, N140 million, N120 million, N105.99 million, and N40 million, respectively.
Labana Glover Venture however came out tops in the second round of bidding process with a price of N350 million to win the bid ahead of its closest competitor, the Nigeria Port authority, which increased its bid price to N305 million.
Ore-Irele Oil Palm Company Limited, which was incorporated on December 3, 1979, has an authorised and fully paid-up share capital of N500,000.
The shareholding structure of the company comprises: the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, N300,000 (about 60 per cent); Ondo State Government, N125,000 (about 25 per cent); Trele/Odigbo/Okitipupa Local Government Area, N50,000 (about 10 per cent), and Nigerian Joint Agency Limited, N25,000 (about five per cent).
The Nigeria Hotel Limited Chalets consists of six number one-bedroom guest chalets, a four-room boy�s quarters, an office building and a kitchen/canteen block, all covering an approximate area of 3,346 square metres.
