United Arab Emirate-based Telecom company, Etisalat International has announced the termination of its management agreement with its Nigeria arm, Etisalat Nigeria.
This sign was given by the CEO of Etisalat International, Hatem Dowidar during an interview with the Reuters this morning.
The Etisalat chief noted that all shareholders of Etisalat International and Mubadala Development company have pulled out of the company, and not part of the recently constituted board.
"There is a new board and we are not part of that company. We have sent our termination letter for the management agreement," he told Reuters.
Dowidar
said parent Etisalat had written down the value of the Nigerian
business on its books and that transferring its 45 percent stake to the
lenders after loan renegotiation talks collapsed had no impact on the
group.
He
also informed that the company has begun a three-week brand name
phasing period, which would finally mark the exit of Etisalat from
Nigeria.
"The brand agreement in either of
these two scenarios won't be a long-term thing, so we take out the
brand; in the long term Etisalat won't be in Nigeria."
It
would be recalled that the Teleco company had challenges converting its
$1.2 billion debts to local Nigerian currency. A move the lender banks
refused stating that they would accept the loan repayment in its given
currency.
Though, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
have taken moves to save the company from been taking under
receivership by constituting another board and management team for the
company.
It
is hoped that the company would be restored to stability, where
scouting for potential buyers. This fact was also disclosed by Dowidar.
"(Nigerian)
lenders may try to continue to operate the company until they find a
buyer (or) they may merge the company with the existing players in
Nigeria, he said, adding that it was tough to say what lenders would
do,” he confirmed during this interview.
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