Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at July 18th, 2008

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline has transferred 418 million barrels of crude oil since it started operations in 2006, BTC Oil Pipeline Company Turkey General Manager Can Suphi has said.

Suphi noted that the daily capacity of the BTC pipeline is 1 million barrels, adding that the line is operating near full capacity, with daily transfer of 900-950,000 barrels. He said 530 oil tankers have been filled from the line thus far.

Suphi was speaking at the 12th Social Investment Program Workshop held in the Orfoz facilities at Eymir Lake yesterday, where participants discussed projects to further the development of settlements along the BTC pipeline. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 18th, 2008

The world’s leading private equity firm, the Carlyle Group, announced that it has bought 50 percent of shares in the TVK Shipbuilding Industry Trade Inc., which specializes in building chemical tankers.

This investment, concluded on Wednesday and approved by the Competition Board, is the first investment made by the Carlyle Group in Turkey.

Carlyle Group Turkey General Manager Can Deldağ indicated that their participation in the TVK is very important for the Carlyle Group and that they will work in close cooperation with the company management to ensure that the TVK is well positioned in the fast growing global shipbuilding sector. Deldağ pointed out that with its new facilities, strong management staff, know-how, quality and efficiency, the TVK has considerable competitive advantages in many segments of the sector. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 18th, 2008

Gulftainer, the second biggest port operator in the United Arab Emirates, has acquired a 50 percent share of the Turkish logistics company Demas International for 10 million euros.

Demas International, a freight company providing services in land, air, sea and rail transportation, is affiliated with Sedef Holding, whose majority share in Demas was owned by Demir Sabancı.

Murat Kavrar, general manager of Demas International, spoke yesterday at a press conference in Istanbul held to announce the deal with Gulftainer. He said Gulftainer specializes in logistics, adding that it is active in many countries and has strong trade relations with Turkey. The company also operates in several other sectors, ranging from retail sales of electronics to aviation and plastic packaging to the insurance business, he noted. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 17th, 2008

Verbund, Austria’s biggest utility, and Turkish partner Sabanı Holding are planning to expand in Turkey by building power plants and buying distribution grids. In order to accopmlish its plans the venture was granted a 1-billion-euro ($1.6 billion) loan by the World Bank’s International Finance Corp., Akbank and WestLB. “Our goal is to buy at least one more large distribution large company or two mid-sized ones,” Sabancı Chief Executive Officer Ahmet Dördüncü said in an interview Tuesday. “We currently have 3 million customers, and we want to raise that to at least 6 million people.” Enerjisa, co-owned by Sabancı and Verbund, bid $1.23 billion to win a state tender July 1 for the Turkish capital Ankara’s electricity distribution grid, which has 2.9 million customers. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 14th, 2008

Turkey’s state minister, Mehmet Simsek forecast on Monday around 12-14 billion dollars of foreign capital flow in Turkey in 2008.

Turkey’s economy forecasts $12-14 bln in FDI inflows in 2008.

“Turkey forecasts a net foreign capital inflow of $12-14 billion this year,” Simsek told an Anatolian Agency correspondent.

Turkey was planning to draw gross $18 billion of direct foreign capital in 2008. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 14th, 2008

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler has stated that an American oil company has put in a request with his ministry to perform oil exploration in the Black Sea.

Speaking to the press on Saturday during his visit to İzmir for the opening of the Yuntdağı Wind Energy Power Plant (RES), Güler said Turkey’s oil exploration will begin in the Black Sea in 2009, adding that the aim is to find a good source very quickly as the cost of oil drilling is very high both on land and offshore. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 11th, 2008

Turkey’s foreign direct investments (FDI) fell by 45.5 percent to 6 billion dollars in the first five months of 2008 compared to the same period of last year, the Treasury Undersecretariat announced in a statement on Friday.

A total of $649 million of foreign direct investment flowed into Turkey in May, the statement read.

The equity investment inflow component of the international direct investment inflows reached up $5 billion in the same period, with $2.8 billion of this amount flowing into the financial intermediation sector, according to the latest figures.

In the first five months of 2008, 1,239 companies and branch offices with international capital have been established and 280 international capital participations to the existing domestic companies incurred the statement also read.

According to the latest figures, FDI during the January-May term reached $11 billion in Turkey. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 9th, 2008

Faber, a leading global manufacturer of stove hoods, has established a new facility in the Aegean city of Manisa, after closing down a Franke Group factory in China.

Faber Turkey’s new factory, which started operating in 2000 to produce hood ventilators and aspirators in Manisa, launched production with a ceremony Friday.

Faber Turkey, which produced 1.2 million units last year, plans to increase its capacity to 1.5 million units in 2011. Turkey’s importance as a production base is rising for the company, said Michael Pieper, chief executive officer of Franke, a world leader in comprehensive systems for domestic kitchens and for professional applications in food service, coffee preparation, beverage delivery and hygiene solutions. (more…)