TAV to sell minority stake
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Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 20, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - TAV Havalimanları, the Turkish airport operator, aims to sell a 30 percent stake in its profitable ground-handling business to pay debts that fall due this year and fund new bids for regional infrastructure projects, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
Sani Şener, chief executive of the company, told the British newspaper that TAV would sell a minority stake in Havaş, its fully owned ground-handling subsidiary, allowing it easily to meet debts of 144 million euros ($192.1 million) due in 2009.
TAV would also prepare to relaunch a delayed flotation of Havaş in 2010, Şener was quoted as saying by the Financial Times. Havaş could be valued at around 275 to 350 million euros, with TAV aiming to sell a 30 percent stake to a strategic partner, according to a banking insider who added that TAV could also seek a partner for its recent airport investment in Tunisia, Financial Times reported. TAV currently runs six airports in Turkey, Tunisia, Georgia and Macedonia; holds rights to operate five more, and is bidding for new projects in countries such as Latvia, Kazakhstan and Abu Dhabi.
But the aggressive expansion has left TAV highly leveraged in a year when Turkish companies could struggle to raise funds from international markets, the report said. The group's market capitalization has fallen from about $2.2 billion to $550m in 2008.
Passenger numbers in Istanbul were flat year-on-year in the first half of January, Şener told Financial Times. His his forecast that they will grow by 4 percent this year depends on a bullish forecast of 2 percent growth in the wider Turkish economy. Şener insisted that TAV needs to be ready for a new wave of airport tenders in a region where infrastructure development has lagged behind growth in air traffic, the newspaper reported.
TAV would also prepare to relaunch a delayed flotation of Havaş in 2010, Şener was quoted as saying by the Financial Times. Havaş could be valued at around 275 to 350 million euros, with TAV aiming to sell a 30 percent stake to a strategic partner, according to a banking insider who added that TAV could also seek a partner for its recent airport investment in Tunisia, Financial Times reported. TAV currently runs six airports in Turkey, Tunisia, Georgia and Macedonia; holds rights to operate five more, and is bidding for new projects in countries such as Latvia, Kazakhstan and Abu Dhabi.
But the aggressive expansion has left TAV highly leveraged in a year when Turkish companies could struggle to raise funds from international markets, the report said. The group's market capitalization has fallen from about $2.2 billion to $550m in 2008.
Passenger numbers in Istanbul were flat year-on-year in the first half of January, Şener told Financial Times. His his forecast that they will grow by 4 percent this year depends on a bullish forecast of 2 percent growth in the wider Turkish economy. Şener insisted that TAV needs to be ready for a new wave of airport tenders in a region where infrastructure development has lagged behind growth in air traffic, the newspaper reported.