Virgin Mobile, BUA Group and Vodacom Among Potential Buyers of 9Mobile Network

BUA Group, Virgin Mobile, and Vodacom are among the companies that have indicated interest in bidding for the new telecom brand, 9Mobile following an indication by Mr. Boye Olusanya, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) announced that it was open to investors with good offers, days after it was officially presented to the public.

According to the Dailypost, the giant investors and a few unnamed ones have shown interest in acquiring 9Mobile telecommunications which still enjoys a large patronage and loyalty despite its recent take-over crisis. It also reported that the number one item on the table for discussion is how to offset the uncleared 1.2 million Dollars loan which had led to the disintegration of the previous board.

Citibank, New York, and Standard Bank, South Africa are to serve as advisers in the evaluation of the bids from the investors before bringing it before the board of new directors. The major characteristics of investors’ memoranda, for them to be seen as potentially valuable, will be the financial strength to offset the payment of $1.2 Billion bank loan, and the technical expertise to take the company to a new level.

Virgin Mobile, which is part of the Virgin Group; a multinational conglomerate company founded by British Entrepreneur Richard Branson and Nick Powell, has broken into markets around the world, and this could be an opportunity for the Virgin Group, with its years of experience and rumoured excellent service Providence, to enter the Nigerian Market.

The BUA Group is a Nigerian Conglomerate with interests in manufacturing, infrastructure and agriculture. Bidding as an investor in 9Mobile will be  BUA Group’s foray into the telecommunications space in Nigeria.

Back in 2001, at the inception of telecommunication industry in Nigeria, Vodacom saw little promise in the Nigerian sphere and allowed MTN to win the bidding without major competition. Vodacom failed in an attempt to acquire V-Mobile Network in 2004.This would be the company’s third opportunity to enter the Nigerian Telecommunication business space.

With about 20 Million subscribers and a great number of stakeholders, the fate of 9Mobile and who wins the bidding is one development we are must all be interested in. We hope that the final outcome will bring the best to all stakeholders.