Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at December 4th, 2008

South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction Co said on Thursday its consortium won a underwater tunnel order worth $1 billion in Istanbul.

SK Engineering, an unlisted unit of SK Group, said in a statement it partnered with a Turkish company, Yapi Merkezi, and four South Korean builders to bid for the project. (more…)

Posted by meb at November 29th, 2008

A tender for the 3G mobile communication system ended yesterday with the participation of Turkey’s three GSM operators, bringing a total of 822 million euros into the Treasury with another 148 million euros going to the Finance Ministry as the value-added tax (KDV).

This extra revenue is expected to increase confidence in Turkish markets and improve the budget balance.

Despite some pessimism that the tender would not achieve the expected returns and the prospect that it might have been postponed again due to a lack of demand, the result was a success amid the global financial crisis which has rendered it difficult for companies to find credit to finance their bids. The mobile operators that shared the 3G licenses in yesterday’s standoff announced they would pay the amount as a lump sum.

The tender marked the dawn of a new era in mobile communication technology, as the introduction of 3G will bring a number of novelties such as visual communication, watching TV on phones and much faster Internet connections. (more…)

Posted by meb at November 21st, 2008

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, or TMSF, has collected $18 billion by selling assets it collected from owners of confiscated banks and corporations over the last five years.

Asset sales bring in $18 bln Since 2003, when Ahmet Ertürk became the TMSF chairman, the fund has sold 11 radio stations, 11 television stations, and six newspapers via tender. The fund has also sold one bank, two football clubs, 25 factories, two ports, 11 marine vessels, five helicopters, 6,100 real estate properties, 2,000 vehicles, 300 items of heavy construction machinery, 500 guns, 145,000 household goods, 5,000 wines, 844 boxes of cigars, 500 oil paintings, 9,500 items of jewellery, 275 copyright licenses and 500 livestock.

Having sold 41 companies via tender, TMSF attained its highest income, $4.5 billion, from Telsim, a mobile phone operator acquired by Vodafone. The sale of daily Sabah and the Atv channel to Çalık Group followed for $1.1 billion. (more…)

Posted by meb at November 13th, 2008

Turkey’s National Lottery Administration, which will be privatized through the license handover method, reported total earnings of $4.4 billion in the last five years, the Anatolian Agency reported on Thursday.

According to the figures compiled from the National Lottery, the institution repaid $1.9 billion in prizes and contributed some $2.3 billion to public finance during this period.

The Privatization Administration Board of Turkey has recently opened a tender to privatize the National Lottery Administration for 10-years, in which it will receive bids until Feb. 27, 2009.

Companies or consortia that are interested in the privatization of the administration have to apply for pre-qualification by Jan. 15, 2009. (more…)

Posted by meb at November 11th, 2008

Turkey will make changes to a nuclear energy tender law after nearly two months it received only one bid in a tender to build the country’s first nuclear power plant, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing an Energy Ministry official.

A consortium led by Russian state firm Atomstroyexport, together with Inter RAO and Turkish Park Teknik, was the only bid in a tender to build and operate the country’s first nuclear power plant in Mersin on the Mediterranean coast.

The tender held in September was disappointing given the fact that a number of foreign and local companies had previously expressed interest but did not submit bids. (more…)

Posted by meb at November 4th, 2008

While the tender process for the nation’s first nuclear power plant has not yet been finalized, the government has approved the start of a second plant

Having come under fire for mishandling the tender process for the nation’s first nuclear power plant, the Turkish government is already pushing the button for the go-ahead on a second station.

The only proposal to build the country’s first nuclear power plant in the Mediterranean coastal town of Akkuyu in Mersin, was submitted by a consortium formed by Russia’s Atomstroy export, Inter RAO and Turkey’s Park Teknik, a unit of Ciner Holding, last September.

Energy experts criticized the bid from the start, arguing the energy ministry had mismanaged the whole affair and Turkey would become even more dependent on Russia for energy. Several companies, including Turkey’s Sabancı Holding, requested a postponement of the tender and some said the timetable was insufficient to prepare a proposal, but the ministry pressed on. (more…)

Posted by meb at October 28th, 2008

The Competition Authority decided yesterday that a privatization tender of the national lottery, Milli Piyango (MP), could proceed and noted it will monitor the tender process further. The authority said there was no problem with the winning company constituting a monopoly in the Turkish lottery sector.

The Privatization Administration (ÖİB) recently notified the Competition Authority of the tender process, a necessary step before the Competition Authority can issue its final decision on how the tender process is to proceed. (more…)

Posted by meb at October 25th, 2008

Ankara Metropolitan Municipality has announced a tender for the sale of plots of land located near Gölbaşı district’s Koparan Street. The municipality has determined the estimated value of the land at YTL 30.1 million, while those attending the tender will have to submit YTL 903,000 to the municipality as a temporary security deposit.

The tender will take place Nov. 6 at 2.00 p.m. through a closed envelope method. Those wishing to attend the tender for the sale of the property are able to examine contract for the tender at the municipality’s Department of Real Estate and Expropriation during business hours. The letters of tender prepared to the specifications of the tender can be submitted to the head of the Editorial Office and Board of Decisions before noon on the date of the tender. (more…)