Consortium gets majority shares of Turkey's Petkim

The consortium paid in advance $1.66 billion of the total $2.04 billion to purchase 51 percent of Petkim's shares and signed a contract in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Â

The consortium is expected to pay the remaining $380 million in three years. Â

Socar-Turcas-Injaz plans to set up an oil refinery in Ceyhan town, an energy hub in southern Turkey, head of the consortium told reporters at the takeover ceremony.

Erdal Aksoy said the consortium would not dismiss any of the employees at Petkim and it aimed to double the capacity of the petrochemicals company.

Socar-Turcas-Injaz took out loans worth $625 million from two Turkish banks, Akbank and Garanti, Aksoy said.

Turkey held the tender to privatize 51 percent of the petrochemical company in July 2007. The TransCentralAsia Petrochemical Holding consortium submitted the highest bid in the tender worth $2.05 billion.

However, the tender committee decided to award the first runner-up, Socar-Turcas-Injaz consortium, with the tender. This consortium offered $2,040 million and the Higher Board of Privatization approved the sale.

Turkish Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said privatization of Petkim would be the start of development of petrochemical industry in Turkey. "I believe that Petkim will become a major global company," Unakitan told the ceremony.

In a separate development, Petrol-Is union filed lawsuits against Petkim's privatization, and the trial process continues.

Petkim was set up under the leadership of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation on April 3, 1965. It opened five factories in the Izmit-Yarimci petrochemical complex in 1970. Then, several other factories were established.

Petkim later established its second complex in Aliaga town in the Aegean province of Izmir.

Today, Petkim is one of the leading companies in Turkey with 14 factories, an electricity generation unit, a port and dam (Guzelhisar dam) and is an indispensable raw material producer of Turkish industry.

The company announced it had made a net profit of $73.8 million at the end of 2007.

 

Photo: AA