Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has denied knowledge of the reported withdrawal by Barclays Africa from the 9Mobile transaction Emefiele disclosed this while making remarks after yesterday’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. He also expressed confidence that the sale would be concluded before the end of the year.
“We remain focused on it. There is a rumour that Barclays Africa, the financial advisers, want to withdraw from the transaction. If Barclays decide to do so, they will do so in a letter. Barclays was hired in a letter and if they decide to withdraw, they will do so in form of a letter. But as I speak with you, there is no letter from Barclays.
News had earlier broken yesterday that Barclays Africa had withdrawn from midwifing the sale of 9Mobile to interested investors.
What were the anomalies ?
While Emefiele denied knowledge of Barclays exit, he however stated that the CBN had observed certain anomalies in the sales process. Neither Barclays Africa nor 9Mobile have issued statements denying the exit. Emefiele did not disclose the anomalies in question. This tallies with earlier reports that the CBN and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had raised red flags about the manner in which Barclays had handled the transaction.
