Aviation handling company to be sold

The National Council on Privatisation is set to approve the sale of Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited to Eraskorp Consortium, the company that emerged the highest bidder.

According to Joseph Anichebe, spokesperson for the Bureau of Public Enterprise, the approval will come later this month.

"If we're not going to schedule any council meeting within the month, we'll take it to the chairman for approval...the law provides that if council meeting is not imminent, the chairman can give anticipatory approval and then it will be ratified at their next meeting," he said.

The privatisation agency in Abuja, on Tuesday announced that Eraskorp Consortium, made up of Eraskorp Nigeria Ltd, Revilo Aerospace Corporation, Miles-Ryder Nigeria Ltd, Standard Alliance Insurance, and Cambata PVT Ltd, was the winning bidder for Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited, a subsidiary of Nigeria Airways Ltd, owned by the government.

The group won the sale with a ₦13.5 billion bid, an amount Christopher Anyanwu, director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprise describe as a "harvest". Bureau of Public Enterprise sources revealed that the reserved bid for Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited was between ₦7 and ₦8 billion.

The Breakdown of equity holding in Eraskorp Consortium shows that Eraskorp Nigeria Limited has a majority holding of 40 per cent; Standard Alliance Insurance holds 25 per cent; and Cambata PVT Limited 15 per cent. Aerospace Corporation and Miles-Ryder Nigeria Limited hold 10 per cent each.

The bid exercise, which was in two phases, was contested by six companies. They are: Tak Continental Limited, Pan Express Services Limited, Eraskorp Consortium, and Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited. The others are Moore Associates, and Aviation Handling Partners Limited.

Bids from the other companies are as follows; Pan Express Services Ltd, was first behind Eraskorp with ₦10.4 billion while Skyway Aviation Handling Company Ltd offered ₦9.169 billion. Tak Continental Ltd offered ₦7.77 billion, Moore Associates Ltd offered ₦6.2 billion and Aviation Handling Partners Ltd offered ₦5.5 billion.

Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited is an aviation ground handling firm whose business operations include the day to day ground handling of luggage and cargo of various airlines that employ their services. The ₦13.4 billion firm has offices at the Lagos international airport and other international airports in the country.