By Isaac Anumihe
Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said that it is undertaking an assessment of privatized enterprises, especially in the petro-chemical sector with a view to divesting the Federal Government shares through the capital market.
In a paper titled: Creating An Enabling Environment For Public Listings Of The Economy’s Commanding Heights: The Case For Telecommunications & Energy Sectors which he presented at the 2017 annual national workshop of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers in Abuja, the Director General of BPE, Mr Alex Okoh, said that the BPE was working with core investors in certain privatised enterprises sold by deferred public offering to ensure that they sell at least 20 per cent of such entities to the market via public listing.
He said that the agency will ensure that the right core investors with technical, financial and managerial competences are selected to ensure that they are capable of moving privatized entities to the desired level in order to make attractive for public listings.
Okoh noted that BPE would also ensure that technical partners are retained in the privatized enterprises over a long term and that there would be continued engagement with the relevant authorities to seek certain waivers where required to make public listings more easily achievable for the privatized entities.
The DG called for the establishment of an institutional framework to reach targets in both public and private sectors and to identify quick wins, medium term goals, long term achievements.
Also speaking at the event, a former Director-General of BPE, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to set up a committee to induce the telecommunications companies in the country to go to the capital market.