TheCable

Transcorp Hotels have been presented a certificate of discharge by the National Council on Privatisation after fulfilling all the conditions attached to the sale of the hotel.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who chairs the council, presented the certificate to Tony Elumelu, the chairman of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), the core investor in the hotel.

Speaking at the event, Alex Okoh, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) director-general, said Transcorp excelled at achieving the KPIs established during the monitoring and evaluation process; thus it would no longer require post-privatisation monitoring.

Okoh listed some of the achievements as including an increase in customer base by 113%, increase in service excellence captured by an 82% decrease in customer complaints, and an increase in operational efficiency with retained earnings rising to 70% of turnover.

“The success achieved by the Hotel has evidently proven both the diligent process of implementing the privatisation programme on one hand and the commitment and professionalism of the Management Team of the Hotel on the other,” he said.

“The approval is a sequel to the review and analysis of the outcome of our routine performance evaluation earlier conducted on the Hotel, which clearly indicates that the achievements recorded by Transcorp Hotels are in line with all the covenanted obligations embedded in the Share Sale Purchase Agreement (SSPA).”

Commenting on the development, Tony Elumelu, the chairman of Transcorp, said: “Our group is known for business turn around and value creation and I support public-private partnership as a viable option for catalysing our economic development.

“For public-private partnerships to work and become a viable approach for the transformation of our country, privatised entities and their owners must justify government’s confidence in them by visibly improving the acquired assets, create jobs, and increase government revenues.

“Such positive outcomes will encourage the government to privatise more national assets and free itself of revenue for critical social and infrastructure sectors such as education, healthcare, roads, transportation, etc.”

Transcorp was named core investors in the privatisation of the hotel asset, which later became Transcorp Hotels Plc in 2014 after listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The company later extended its reach to Calabar operating as Transcorp Hotels Calabar and acquired properties in Lagos and Port Harcourt where it intends to develop new hotels.

In 2018, Transcorp Hotels completed a USD$100m upgrade of the iconic and multi-award winning Transcorp Hilton Abuja, which was a key factor that led to the final discharge of the company by the BPE from further post-privatisation obligations.