Turkey seen turning to second bidder in lottery tender -minister (updated)

Net Holding

15/04/2015 09:39

(Adds details, background, Simsek comments) 
    ANKARA, April 15 (Reuters) - Turkey's national lottery 
privatisation tender process will probably continue with the 
second-highest bidder, rather than giving the top bidder more 
time to sign a deal after a delay, Finance Minister Mehmet 
Simsek said on Wednesday. 
    A consortium led by a unit of Net Holding  NTHOL.IS  had 
submitted the winning bid with a $2.76 billion offer last July 
and had been granted until April 15 to finalise the signing. 
    But the company said on Wednesday that the agreement could 
not be signed, triggering a 10.7 percent slide in its shares. It 
did not give a reason. 
    An analyst who declined to be identified said the 21 percent 
fall in the lira against the dollar since the tender may have 
hit the consortium's ability to finance the deal. 
    "We have already given extra time in the national lottery 
tender process. We probably would not do it again," Simsek told 
reporters at a news conference in Ankara. "The process would 
probably start with the second highest bidder." 
    The second highest bid was submitted by Turkey's ERG-Ahlatci 
consortium at $2.75 billion. ERG is an Ankara-based construction 
firm while Ahlatci Holding is a jeweller. 
    Neither company was available for immediate comment. 
    In 2009, Turkey scrapped a tender to privatise the national 
lottery as a whole after two bidders failed to meet a $1.6 
billion minimum price requirement. It later decided instead to 
sell licences for games operated by the lottery. 
 
 (Reporting by Orhan Coskun and Can Sezer; writing by Humeyra 
Pamuk; editing by Jason Neely) 
 ((humeyra.pamuk@thomsonreuters.com; +90 212 3507000; Reuters 
Messaging: humeyra.pamuk.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: TURKEY LOTTERY/TENDER