Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at October 24th, 2008

Just as the current global financial crisis hit investment banking heavily, UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest lender and co-owner of Turkey’s Yapı Kredi Bank with Koç Holding, sees Turkey as a safe haven for its investment banking operations.

“Turkey is a core market for us. We are fully committed to our presence here,” Edoardo Spezzotti, head of UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking Division, said at the third UniCredit Turkey Infrastructure Conference in Istanbul yesterday.

“We aim to be the largest investment bank in Turkey. We are looking forward to enhancing our operations here as well as increasing the number of staff. We are developing in market and investment banking in Turkey while some players of the market prioritize mergers with other banks or moving away from investment banking to adopt a global banking model. Some banks have been disappearing while some others lose their independence,” said Spezzotti. (more…)

Posted by meb at October 22nd, 2008

Turkey expects to complete a nuclear power station tender within one or two weeks after “some questions are asked” to the winning Russian firm, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler told reporters on Wednesday.

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.

The tender was assessed as disappointing by analysts given the fact that a number of foreign and local companies had previously expressed interest but did not submit bids, making the Russian consortium the sole bidder.
source: Hurriyet daily

Posted by meb at September 23rd, 2008

Turkcell, the country’s largest mobile-phone operator, is preparing for the launch of a tender for third generation, or 3G, mobile phone licenses in Turkey, according to Koray Öztürkler, Turkcell’s chief corporate affairs officer in charge of corporate communications and investor relations.

“3G is an important development and we hope the tender will take place this year. We are preparing for this. We are thinking of launching 3G services after the tender period, within months,” he told reporters in Istanbul yesterday.

Turkey held a 3G tender last year, however, Turkcell was the only bidder and the tender offer was cancelled. The cabinet decision to again launch a tender for 3G mobile phone licenses was published in the Official Gazette on Thursday of last week. However, no definite date for the tender has yet been set. According to the announcement, the minimum value of the ‘A License’ is 285 million euros, while the ‘B License’ has been valued at 250 million euros, and the price for the ‘C License’ is 214 million euros, and 178 million euros for the ‘D License.’ (more…)

Posted by meb at September 9th, 2008

Preparations for the privatization of Turkey’s national lottery, Milli Piyango, are nearly ready and the tender process is expected to be launched shortly, a senior government source said yesterday.

Another source close to the tender process confirmed the information.

A draft decree on the transfer of the Milli Piyango license has been completed and this will be published in the Official Gazette soon after the Supreme Privatization Board, or ÖYK, gives go-ahead for the tender, one of the sources told Reuters.

Milli Piyango posted sales of YTL 459.8 million ($306.65 million) and YTL 331.8 million net profit last year and its sale is expected to interest several foreign and local bidders. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 9th, 2008

The Turkish Electricity Generation Company (EUAS) will cancel a tender in which two companies bid for rights to construct and operate a coal-fired unit at one of Turkey’s biggest power plants, the Anatolian Agency reported citing the general manager of EUAS on Tuesday.

Park Elektrik and Akfen Insaat-Akfen Enerji entered bids in a tender in late June to build and operate the new coal-fired C unit at the power plant, while Akfen Insaat-Akfen Enerji was the sole bidder for the plant’s D unit. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 6th, 2008

General Electric, the world’s biggest maker of power generation equipment, still plans to submit a bid to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant even though it will probably miss a Sept. 24 government deadline.

GE’s nuclear venture with Hitachi, Japan’s third-largest builder of atomic plants, is working on a bid with partners Turkey’s Sabancı Holding and Spain’s Iberdrola, Jack Fuller, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s chief executive officer, said in an interview.

“We are preparing the proposals, I just don’t think it can be completed before Sept. 24,” he said Wednesday in London. “The government also wants competition. They want multiple providers of nuclear technology. So if they only get, let’s say, one on the 24th, then that probably won’t satisfy their needs anyway.” (more…)

Posted by meb at September 5th, 2008

General Electric, the world’s biggest maker of power generation equipment, still plans to submit a bid to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant even though it will probably miss a Sept. 24 government deadline, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

GE’s nuclear venture with Hitachi, Japan’s third- largest builder of atomic plants, is working on a bid with partners Turkey’s Sabanci Holding and Spain’s Iberdrola, Bloomberg reported Jack Fuller, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s chief executive officer as saying.

“We are preparing the proposals, I just don’t think it can be completed before September 24,” he said adding that “The government also wants competition. They want multiple providers of nuclear technology. So if they only get, let’s say, one on the 24th, then that probably won’t satisfy their needs anyway.”

Turkey is among the governments worldwide leaning toward nuclear power to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, blamed for global warming, and as fossil fuel prices surge. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 4th, 2008

Turkish TAV Airports Holding has won a tender for the operation of two airports and construction of a new cargo terminal in Macedonia, Turkey’s Milliyet newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The company had not yet received official notification of the award, TAV said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

Last week the company said it was the sole bidder in the tender, which included the rights to operate two international airports at Skopje and Ohrid for 20 years as well as to construct Shtip airport’s cargo terminal. (more…)