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BUA Group moves to get 9Mobile as Airtel Bharti, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone express interest
Information on the four prospective buyers of 9Mobile showed that three of them are major players in the global telecommunication market while one (BUA Group) is a new entrant into the telecommunication business.
Mr Boye Olusanya, CEO of Etisalat Nigeria (9Mobile) - the man driving the change process of Etisalat Nigeria.
BUA Group is one of Nigerias largest conglomerates with interests in a diverse number of commercial activities but has no track record in the telecoms sector.
In a different report, Bharti Airtel is also considering the acquisition of the troubled company to boost its assets in Nigeria.
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A report by Nigerian newspaper, This Day, disclosed that the BUA Group and other potential investors have already prepared their memorandum of interest and technical presentations which would be transmitted to Standard Chartered Bank of South Africa and Citi Bank of New York. The two banks have been appointed investment advisers by the consortium of creditors who now own Etisalat Nigeria.
Airtel Nigeria is a business unit of the Indian telecom company, Bharti Airtel. Nigeria is noted by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in a note to clients to be the biggest market of the group and contributes over 30% to the company’s annual revenue.
Virgin Mobile is part of the Virgin Group, founded by maverick British entrepreneur, Richard Branson. With its interest in 9Mobile, it would be the second attempt by the company to acquire a Nigerian based telecom company.
The first attempt was with VMobile, which it has to tussled with Vodafone for its ownership in 2005.
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The Vodafone Group, is British telecom company which operated in Nigeria before selling its majority stake to Celtel.
The final decision on the choice of investors rests on the management of 9Mobile and the two regulatory bodies – Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who guaranteed the consortium of creditors recovery of their funds.
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