Franco-Belgian utility GdF Suez (GSZ.FR) Thursday said it won a tender to buy Izgaz, the gas distribution company of Turkey's northwestern industrial city of Izmit, with a bid of $232 million.
GdF Suez outbid four Turkish companies, including Zorlu Enerji (ZOREN.IS), the energy arm of Turkish textiles-to-electronics conglomerate Zorlu Group, in a televized privatization tender.
A GdF Suez spokeswoman said the growth in Turkish demand for gas has been one of the highest in the world in recent years. GdF Suez also already owns the Baymina gas-fired power station near Ankara.
Turkey is privatizing Izgaz and selling the whole of the company.
The winning bid still needs approval from country's energy regulator, the EPDK, and the competition board.
Izgas has debt of nearly $317 million, and the winner of the tender will also take on that debt.
GdF Suez was created in July, when French state-controlled gas giant Gaz de France SA and Franco-Belgian utility Suez SA completed their merger.