Turkey’s High Board of Privatization approved the sale of two power grids to foreign-Turkish partnerships, paving the way for the grids to be handed over to new owners, the official government gazette said yesterday.
Sabanci Holding and Austria’s Verbund made the top bid of $1.225 billion for the power grid in the Ankara region last July. Czech power firm CEZ and Turkish Akenerji clinched the Sakarya distribution grid in northwest Turkey for $600 million in a second tender.
The sales are part of a major privatization program that has brought in much-needed foreign revenues to rein in the country’s bloated current account deficit. Approval from the High Board of Privatization is the final step before the grids can be handed over by the state.
(KATHIMERINI, 24/09/2008)