Turkey to sell most power grids by end-2009

Turkey plans to sell 20 power grids and has so far sold four. The most recent sales were for a grid servicing central Anatolia, which brought the highest bid of $440 million, and another grid in eastern Anatolia.

Those tenders came shortly after the sell-off of a grid serving Ankara and another in northwest Turkey.

"We will make some decisions about the remaining distribution grids after analyzing those tenders (the four that have taken place), and we will then decide which grids we will be tendering off at what time ... We are expecting to sell off a majority of the distribution systems by the end of 2009," said OIB president Metin Kilci in an interview.

The agency also planned to launch a tender for the privatization of the Turkish National Lottery -- known locally as Milli Piyango -- by Oct. 15, Kilci said.

Milli Piyango's license will be granted for 10 years, and the winning firm will receive 17 percent of the company's revenues with the rest to be divided between various state institutions.

Local companies interested in the tender include Koc Holding, Dogus Group, Alarko and Cukurova Group.

Possible foreign bidders include Austrian Lotteries, Italy-based GTech-Lottomatica, Sweden's Essnet-Tattersall, U.S.-based Scientific Games, and Greece-based firms Opap and Intralot.

The sell-off is part of a wider privatization program, stalled this year due to lack of foreign interest, a credit crunch in the global financial markets and domestic political uncertainties.

Photo: AA