Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Daily Times, Ambassador (Dr.) Yemi Farounbi, has revealed how the newspaper’s management was positioned to acquire the organisation during its privatisation but eventually lost out to another bidder.
Farounbi, who revealed this, said the board believed a management buyout offered the best opportunity to preserve the newspaper and ensure its continued existence.
He said the management initially lacked the financial capacity to buy the organisation, prompting the board to explore ways of helping them secure investors.
According to him, prominent Nigerians, including Aremo Olusegun Osoba and General Theophilus Danjuma, were approached as potential financiers.
Farounbi said investors from South Africa were also considered as possible sources of funding for the management bid, adding, “We were so excited as a board because we believed we were ensuring the survival of the Daily Times for life.”
He explained that the Bureau of Public Enterprises eventually opened the bidding process, with the management submitting an initial bid of N250 million while another bidder offered N100 million.
According to Farounbi, the value of the Daily Times had been assessed at about N1.2 billion.
He said that in the final round of bidding, the management offered N1.2 billion, which he described as the actual value of the organisation.
However, he alleged that another bidder, who had initially offered N100 million, subsequently submitted a final bid of N1.25 billion.
Farounbi described the development as “insider abuse”, alleging that information about the management’s strategy had been made available to an opposing interest through a person connected to the board.
He said the competing bid exceeded the management’s offer by only N50 million.
Farounbi recalled that he subsequently contacted Baba Alayande, then chairman of the Yoruba Council of Elders, because he believed the outcome represented a threat to what he regarded as an important part of the region’s heritage.
He said Alayande met former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the matter, but the response was that the organisation had to go to the highest bidder.
Farounbi maintained that the management had investors ready to provide the money, while the eventual purchaser obtained a bank loan to complete the acquisition.
According to him, the purchaser had expected to use the assets of the Daily Times conglomerate to repay the loan but encountered difficulties because several major properties had already been leased for long periods.
Farounbi said the development ultimately contributed to the collapse of the organisation, asserting, “If they had given it to the management, the Daily Times would have become a mega organisation.”
