Foreign firms eye bridge, highway privatizations
Posted by meb at March 4th, 2008
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is preparing to launch a process for a wide-scale privatization of bridges and highways.
The bidding process is expected to start in May and estimated yield from tenders – the planned Gebze-İzmir highway, which also includes a bridge and sale of existing highways and bridges – is expected to reach $12 billion.
The prospective bidders include Macquarie of Australia, Abertis of Spain, Brisa of Portugal, Bouygues of France and Autostrade of Italy. The construction of the Gebze-İzmir highway will be undertaken on the basis of the build-operate-transfer model.
The income from the sale of existing bridges and highways may reach $5-6 billion and a similar amount is expected from the new highway.
The lucrative package consists of handing out the operating rights of the two bridges spanning the Bosporus – Boğaziçi and Fatih Sultan Mehmet – and six highways to private companies for 20 to 25 years. Meanwhile, the government is awaiting approval from the Supreme Planning Council (YPK) for the Gebze-İzmir project.
Taken as a whole, the package is expected to be the nation’s highest-valued asset sale at nearly $12 billion, surpassing the $6.5 billion Telekom sale.
Strongest bidders:
In the sale of existing assets, five foreign companies are considered to be strong bidders. These companies, with experience in administering turnpike motorways, are looking for Turkish partners. According to some rumors, Autostrade may partner with Doğuş and Doğan groups, while Portuguese Brisa could collaborate with Akfen Group and Oceanic Macquarie may reach agreement with Turkey’s Global Holding.
Autostrade of Italy, operates airports and railways as well as being the largest turnpike administrator in Europe. The group’s 2007 turnover was 3 billion euros.
Abertis from Spain, is also a well-known motorway administrator in Europe, as well as operating telecom, airport and railway systems. Abertis operates approximately 3,400 km of motorways. The 2007 turnover of the company was 3.5 billion euros.
Macquarie from Australia, which had a turnover of 700 million euros in 2007, is one of a handful of infrastructure investors in the world. It operates approximately 2,929 kilometers of motorways.
Bouygues from France is one of the largest infrastructure investors in the world as well as a motorways operator. Bouygues’s 2007 turnover was 30 billion euros. It operates 1,312 km motorways.
Brisa from Portugal administers turnpike motorways in Brazil, Portugal and Spain. Brisa’s 2007 turnover was 586 million euros and the company operates 1,368 km on 14 motorways.
Source: Turkish Daily News
Related posts: