The chairman of Etisalat Nigeria, Hakeem Belo-Osagie, has stepped down following the restructuring of the telecommunication company.
His resignation is effective immediately.
Etisalat was taken over by a consortium of banks two weeks ago.
The banks, led by Access Bank PLC and other local and foreign banks have taken over the telecommunication company effective June 15.
The take-over came as a result of a futile effort by Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services, EMTS, promoted by-one time Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, to reach agreement with the banks on debt restructuring plan in the protracted $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) debt impasse.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that UAE’s Etisalat had on June 20, said that it had been instructed to transfer its 45 per cent stake in Etisalat Nigeria to a loan trustee.
Etisalat said it had been notified to transfer its stake by June 23. It said the stake had a carrying value of zero on its books.
TheNewsGuru.com also reports that in the last few months, Etisalat Nigeria has been in talks with Nigerian banks to restructure a 1.2 billion dollars loan after missing repayments.
The loan is a seven-year facility agreed with 13 banks in 2013 to refinance a 650 million dollars loan and fund expansion of the telco’s network.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that though the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stepped into the fray to prevent a takeover by the banks, those discussions failed to produce an agreement on restructuring the debt.