Nigeria aims to sell 10 state companies

Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria

NIGERIA will offer 10 state-owned companies for sale to selected investors and the public in the fourth quarter to raise 289 billion naira ($797 million) toward funding the 2018 budget, the country’s privatisation agency said.
Preparations are in the final stages 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 them, 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 9,1 trillion 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 privatisation agency had pledged to raise 306 billion naira to help finance the planned spending.
The agency sold a 21 percent stake in the state-owned mint to the central bank last week for 17,3 billion 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