New Owner of 9Mobile (Etisalat) to be Announced on January 16th 2018

9mobile which was formerly known as Etisalat Nigeria was involved in a debt crisis sometime last year when the company was unable to pay up a $1.2 billion loan it got from Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and Access Bank of Nigeria due to operational reasons and crisis in the Nigerian foreign exchange market in 2015 and 2016.

The creditors initially threatened to transfer the company to receivership and this made the parent company, Etisalat pull out of the business. Now the company is up for sale and although the bid ought to have been conclude by December 2017, it was shifted following a request made by the board of 9Mobile to the NCC requesting the board to allow the final bidders perfect their final bids.

Now, The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced that whoever wins the bid for 9mobile will be announced on the 16th of January 2018 and the date won't be shifted this time around.

According to a statement by NCC, it said;

“There would be no shifting of date, insisting that the sale must be concluded January 16 this year, and 9mobile will be handed over to its new owner on that same date.”

Although, initially there were lots of firms bidding to acquire 9mobile, but now Barclays Africa has eventually trimmed down the list to just 5 final firms which are Globacom, Bharti Airtel, Smile Telecoms, Teleology Holdings Limited and Helios Investment Partners. 

We still don't know for sure who will win the bid, but base on the 5 finalist above, who do you think has the better chance of being the new owner of 9mobile?.

Kindly drop your opinion in the comment section below.