Gazprom, Marubeni, Turkish firms eye Istanbul gas grid sale -sources

Aygaz

04/11/2014 10:51

By Asli Kandemir and Seda Sezer 
    ISTANBUL, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Turkey will start the sale of 
Istanbul's IGDAS gas grid this month, with Russia's Gazprom 
 GAZP.MM , Japan's Marubeni Corp  8002.T  and Turkey's Enerya 
and Aygaz  AYGAZ.IS  among the interested bidders, sources close 
to the process said. 
    The IGDAS network serves more than 5 million customers in 
Turkey's largest city and sold 5 billion cubic metres of gas 
last year, generating 4.6 billion lira ($2 billion) of revenue 
and a 279 million lira net profit. 
    "Appetite is huge for the distribution network of a city 
with the most consumption in the country. A lot of companies are 
waiting for the tender advertisement," one of the sources 
familiar with the privatisation plans said. 
    Natural gas distributor Enerya confirmed it was interested 
in the IGDAS sale. Gazprom did not respond to calls seeking 
comment, while officials at trading house Marubeni were not 
immediately available to comment. 
    Liquefied propane gas company Aygaz said it would make a 
decision after seeing the tender documents. 
    "The Turkish government is putting two very valuable assets 
up for sale in the market - IGDAS and the highways and bridges - 
to test investors' appetite," a second source close to the 
privatisation process told Reuters.  ID:nL6N0ST1SZ  
    "Gazprom, Enerya, Marubeni and Aygaz are among the 
interested bidders (for IGDAS)," the source said. 
    Banking and government sources told Reuters on Monday that 
Turkey was also reviving plans to privatise two bridges across 
the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul and some motorways and aims to 
start the process by the first quarter of 2015.  ID:nL6N0ST1SZ  
    A draft law regulating Turkey's natural gas market, which 
includes clauses regarding the privatisation of IGDAS, is still 
before parliament, a second source said, but is expected to pass 
to enable the sale process to go ahead. 
    IGDAS belongs to the municipality of Istanbul, which will 
hold the sale, rather than the privatisation administration, the 
sources said. 
    Turkey's total gas consumption this year is expected to be 
around 48-49 billion cubic metres.  
    Turkey sold the natural gas distribution network Baskent Gaz 
in the capital Ankara, the second-largest gas grid company after 
IGDAS, in January 2013. Torunlar Gida, which has interests in 
construction, real estate and agriculture, placed the highest 
bid of $1.16 billion. 
    (1 US dollar = 2.2286 Turkish lira) 
 
 (Additional reporting by Evrim Ergin in Istanbul, Orhan Coskun 
in Ankara, Katya Golubkova in Moskow, Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; 
Editing by Nick Tattersall) 
 ((seda.sezer@thomsonreuters.com; +90 212 350 7051; Reuters 
Messaging: seda.sezer@thomsonreuters.com)) 
 
Keywords: TURKEY GAS/PRIVATISATION