As many as 40 mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
valued at $5.6 billion (4.7 billion euro) were realised in the Turkish energy
sector in 2014, remaining flat year-on-year in terms of deal numbers but down
21% in terms of value, the Turkish arm of global consultancy firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said.
The average value of the deals also
fell to $140 million from $176 million in 2013, according to the seventh edition
of PwC Turkey’s Energy Deals annual analysis of mergers and acquisitions in the
Turkish energy market, released earlier in January.
“The tenders for the
three remaining state thermal power plants accounted for most of the total deal
value in the overall energy market, which was marginally supported by the sale
of much smaller state hydropower assets,” PwC Turkey said in the
analysis.
Deals in the utilities segment accounted for 98% of all M&A
in the sector last year. Compared to 2013, transactions in the segment were down
8.0% in terms of number and down 21% in terms of average value.
Although
the number of M&A deals in the oil and gas segment doubled to six in 2014
and the average deal value grew 108%, “the oil and gas segment failed once again
to experience a revival in 2014, in line with the outcome we had predicted,” PwC
Turkey noted.
The share of value of the public deals decreased to 82% in
2014 from 92% in 2013.
The involvement of foreign players remained
limited at only 6.0% in 2014.
PwC expects M&A activity in the Turkish
energy sector in 2015 will “not be much different from 2014”. The privatisation
of natural gas distributor Igdas is expected to occur this year as well as
privatisation of the 1,440 megawatt (MW) Afsin–Elbistan B thermal power
plant.