Austrian utility company Verbund AG (VER.VI) said Wednesday that it and Turkish partner Sabanci Energy Group, through their joint venture Enerjisa, have undersigned the purchase contract with the Turkish government for distribution grid company Baskent EDAS in Ankara.
The purchase price amounts to $1.23 billion. This wraps up the so far largest privatization project in the Turkish energy market, which is to be fully liberalized by 2011. By 2012, Verbund and Sabanci Baskent are planning to make Baskent one of the leading distribution grid companies in Turkey.
In July 2008, the Turkish privatization authority selected the bidding consortium Verbund/Sabanci/Enerjisa as best bidder for the purchase of Baskent EDAS, the regional electricity distributor in the Ankara region. With today's signing of the contract, the three partners are taking over 100% of the company for a period of 30 years.
The Baskent region around Ankara with a population of 6.3 million extends from the Black Sea all the way to the Anatolian Mountains and is one of the largest regions in Turkey. Already now, Baskent EDAS supplies electricity to around 3 million end-customers in the region. For comparison: Austria, with around 8.3 million inhabitants, has a total of 4 million electricity customers.
In 2007, Baskent EDAS, with around 2,900 permanent and another 2,000 temporary employees, generated sales of YTL 1.2 billion or $945 million, claiming a market share of 9% in the entire Turkish end-customer market.
The partners Sabanci and Verbund work together on the further development of electricity generation, supply and transmission, as well as electricity sales in Turkey. Their joint venture Enerjisa is aiming at a market share of at least 10% - and thus leadership - in the Turkish electricity market by 2015. Energjisa's target portfolio provides for an installed plant capacity of 5,000 MW by 2015. For comparison: Verbund's entire power plant potential in Austria comprises 7,000 MW.