Başkent Electricity sold tender for $1.2 billion
Posted by meb at July 2nd, 2008
Open bidding held during the final bargaining hours for the privatization of the Başkent Electricity Distribution Corporation (Başkent EDAŞ) via the bloc sale method saw the highest bid ($1.225 billion) offered by the joint venture of Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., Österreichische Elektrizitatswirtschafts, Aktiengesellschaft (Verbund) and Enerjisa Energy Production Corporation.
The open bidding was held at the headquarters of the Privatization Administration (ÖİB) where ÖİB Deputy President Ahmet Aksu acted as the head of the tender commission. Following the bid given by the Sabancı-led consortium, Hema Corporation requested a break after which it decided to withdraw from the tender. The representative of the Akcez Joint Venture Group, which asked for a break in the first round, stated that they, too, were withdrawing. Thus, the first privatization tender in the electricity distribution field was technically completed.
Aksu explained that after consulting with the Competition Board and the Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK), the Tender Commission will send its decision to the ÖİB for approval, after which the winning company will be invited to sign the contract. After the company makes the payment in full, the shares will be transferred to it, he said. Following the open bidding session, Selahattin Hakman, the head of Sabancı Holding’s Energy Group, speaking on behalf of their joint venture group, indicated that the privatization tenders for electricity distribution which started with the privatization of Başkent EDAŞ are a strong sign of the formation of a competitive liberal market of electricity.
Hakman maintained that a competitive liberal electricity market will help solve current supply problems. “To tackle the power supply problems, private companies should make their investments under competitive and liberal market conditions. This was an important step toward the liberalization of the market, which we have been expecting for years. We are happy for the start of privatization of electricity distribution regions,” he said. Concerning the price they will pay, Hakman added: “In this tender, we have set our price by forcing our economic capabilities, but without ignoring economic realities.”
Hakman further noted that they are planning to secure 10 percent of the market until 2015 and they see privatization of electricity production regions as part of their targets.
In the meantime, the Akcez consortium, composed of the Akkök Group and its Czech partner, the Cez Group, offered the high bid of $600 million in the privatization tender to operate the Sakarya Electricity Distribution Corporation (SEDAŞ). Companies and consortia such as the Alsim Alarko Industry-Akcez Joint Venture, the Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding, Österreichische Elektrizitatswirtschafts, Aktiengesellschaft (Verbund), Enerjisa Joint Venture and Park Holding participated in the tender, which was held under the supervision of Ahmet Aksu, the vice president of the Supreme Privatization Board (ÖYK).
Following approval from the Competition Board and ÖYK, the management rights to SEDAŞ will be transferred to Akcez for 30 years. Akkök executive board chairman Mehmet Ali Berkman, in a statement made after the tender, said they will decide later how to make the payment. Pointing out that the Akkök Group was among the first producers of electricity in Turkey, Berkman noted that they were participating in the construction of 10 power plants. After the finalization of these projects next year, he said, their capacity will rise to 800 megawatts and they will also make an investment that will bring an additional capacity increase of 2,000 megawatts over the next five years.
source: Today’s Zaman
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