Nigeria will offer 10 state-owned companies for sale to a combination of selected investors and the public in the fourth quarter, in order to raise 289bn naira ($797m) toward funding the 2018 budget, the country’s privatization agency said.
Preparations are nearing completion to begin the sale of the companies in industries that range from power through aviation to insurance, Joe Anichebe, a director at Abuja-based Bureau of Public Enterprises, said in an interview on Saturday in the southwestern city of Abeokuta.
Two of the companies are already scheduled to be sold soon, Nicon Insurance Ltd. and Skyway Aviation Handling Co. will be sold “this month or early next month” through an initial public offering, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari signed a record 9.1trn naira budget into law in June, with a smaller fiscal deficit compared with the previous year, which the government seeks to fund from sources other than revenue from oil, its main export.
The privatization agency had pledged to raise 306bn naira to help finance the planned spending.
The agency sold a 21% stake in the state-owned mint to the central bank last week for 17.3bn naira, according to Anichebe.
It is also reviewing previous sales and plans to revoke deals where buyers haven’t kept to their agreements, he said.
-Bloomberg
