Mr. Odion Wesley Omonfoman is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of New Hampshire Capital Limited, a financial advisory and energy investment firm based in Lagos and Abuja.
Odion holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Ibadan and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. He has a certificate in Corporate Finance from the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and has participated in several international and local training programs on corporate and project finance including theAdvanced Corporate Finance program of the Harvard University.
Odion is a former investment banker and an energy expert. His core competencies are in the areas of corporate and project finance, business consulting and strategy development within the energy sector. He is an expert authority in the Nigerian power sector. Odion’s views and opinions in the energy sector are widely published and are well regarded by stakeholders within the power sector. As an energy expert, Odion is a public commentator on the Nigerian energy sector and is regularly sought after by local and international media to comment on the Nigerian energy sector.
Odion has been involved in the privatization of the electricity industry in Nigeria since 2011 from a buy-side perspective. Between 2011 and 2013, Odion acted as the lead adviser to a consortium of local and international Investors, together with their foreign technical partners namely Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) of Thailand, Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) of Thailand, and AYDEM of Turkey, on the privatization of six PHCN successor electricity distribution companies (DisCos). He led a team of international engineering, consulting, financial advisory and legal firms such as Parsons Brinkerhoff, Ramboll, London Power Associates, PricewaterhouseCoopers, FBN Capital, Standard Chartered Bank, Clifford Chance and Detail Commercial Solicitors, amongst others, on a detailed due diligence of the DisCos. The team undertook and prepared comprehensive technical, legal and financial due diligence reports for the six DisCos namely Benin, Eko, Ikeja, Ibadan, Enugu and Jos electricity distribution companies.
In 2014, he successfully advised a consortium of local and international investors during the privatization of the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) generation plants. The totalvalue of the bids was in excess of USD1.7 billion. He led the negotiations of key transaction and industry agreements between the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET), Gas Aggregator and Gas Producers on the acquisition of 80% shareholding in the Alaoji, Benin and Calabar NIPP Generation Companies. The transaction and industry agreements include the Share Sale Agreements, the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), the Put/Call Option Agreement (PCOA), the Gas Supply Agreements (GSA), the Ancillary Agreements etc. He also co-ordinated a US$1.205 billion acquisition finance facility for the acquisition of 80% of Benin and Calabar GenCos by the Consortium.
In 2015, he was appointed as the pioneer Chief Administrator / CEO of NESI-SS Limited, a special purpose vehicle owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide liquidity to the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) under the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilization Facility (NEMSF). The NEMSF injected N210 billion into the NESI as intervention facilities to DisCos to settle outstanding market debts due to Market Participants and gas producers.
In 2018, Odion worked closely with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) as an expert adviser to develop the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) regulations. The MAP regulations was the outcome of one of his policy papers on how to address the metering gap and other challenges in the NESI. His company, New Hampshire Capital Limited is a Meter Asset Provider (MAP) for Ikeja Electric and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. Since the inception of the MAP scheme in 2019, New Hampshire has financed and installed over 70,000 meters for Ikeja DisCo and Ibadan DisCo under the MAP scheme.
Besides the power sector, Odion has significant upstream oil and gas advisory experience. He was Part of a team of Advisers that advised on the US$2.570 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) 45% interest in OML 29. OML 29 is the largest onshore lease with gas reserves in excess of 2.5 tcf of natural gas and over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Odion has been invited as a Speaker and Panelist to notable local and international conferences such as the Africa Conference, EuroFinance Week, the Platts Crude Oil Markets Asia Conference, the West African Power Investment Conference (WAPIC), amongst several other conferences
