Turkey to Tender Tobacco Firm Tekel in Oct-Sources

Source from:  beta.malaysia.news.yahoo.com Reuters - Thursday, September 13 09/14/2007

Turkey plans to offer Tekel Cigarette for sale by tender in October, industry and government sources told Reuters on Thursday, the latest of several planned attempts to sell the tobacco firm. "According to the work being done, the Privatisation Administration plans to put Tekel Cigarette up for sale with a tender in October," one of the sources, who declined to be named, said. The other source confirmed the information. Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said in May the state-owned firm would be sold after a July 22 parliamentary election, in which the pro-business AK Party was re-elected. Turkey has tried several times to sell Tekel, postponing most recently a plan to sell the former monopoly in April. In February it cancelled a sale saying it planned to boost market share first. Tekel has a 40 percent share of the market in Turkey, with annual sales of around $8 billion. But its share has fallen from 60 percent since Ankara first planned to sell it in 2001. Earlier this year the government raised a special consumption tax on tobacco, which some in the government opposed because of the possible impact on the Tekel privatisation. In 2003, Japan Tobacco offered $1.15 billion for Tekel but Ankara cancelled the tender, saying bids were unsatisfactory. There were no bids in a 2004 tender. The sale is part of a broad privatisation programme backed by Turkey's major creditor, the International Monetary Fund. It was one of several deals postponed or cut back before the July election. Enditem