Turkey cancels Petkim sale to Kazakh consortium

17 October 2007 12:01  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Ankara has decided to cancel the sale of its 51% stake in petrochemicals major Petkim to a Kazakhstan-based consortium and will now sell to the second highest bidder, Socar-Turcas-Injaz, for $2.04bn (€1.44bn), a source close to the divestment process said on Wednesday.

 

The bidder is a consortium of the State Oil Co of Azerbaijan (Socar), Turkish petroleum products distributor Turcas and Injaz, a Bahrain-based Saudi investment fund.

 

The decision, which was taken on Tuesday night following the recommendation of the government-appointed tender commission, is subject to approval by Turkey’s competition council and higher privatisation council, the source added.

 

“The approval is only a formality and should come in the next three weeks,” the source said. The entire privatisation exercise was expected to be completed by January 2008, he added.

 

Petkim was not available for comment.

 

The award of the stake to Kazakh-Russian Transcentralasia Petrochemical Holding for $2.05bn in July this year unleashed a wave of protests in Turkey, with Turkish oil and gas sector union Petrol-Is calling on the country’s highest court to cancel the planned privatisation.

 

The 18 prequalifying bids for the stake included offers from leading European petrochemicals producers INEOS and Basell.

 

Petkim is Turkey's largest petrochemical company and only cracker operator, with about 30% share of the domestic market, producing 1.9m tonnes/year of chemicals.

 

($1 = €0.71)

 

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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