Turkey Selling Final Three Electricity Grids, Including Istanbul, Antalya

Turkey will today sell the last three power grids in a series of auctions that have already drawn more than $10 billion in bids from local and foreign investors.

The state asset sales agency will offer the network on the Asian side of Istanbul, the country’s biggest city, the grid near the southern tourism hub of Antalya, and the supplier of power to the Mediterranean port region around Adana at the sale in Ankara.

Turkey is selling power grids and generators to attract private investment into an industry where demand is set to rise at 6 percent annually, according to estimates published Nov. 9 by Deloitte LLP. The country needs as much as $150 billion in energy investment by 2023, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Nov. 24.

The asset sales agency sold 15 grids in auctions this year and last, drawing a total of $10.8 billion in offers. Some of those sales are yet to be completed and payment is likely next year, when the government aims for 13.7 billion liras ($9.3 billion) in revenue from selling assets, according to the medium-term economic program.

The agency received a total of 39 bids for today’s sales, it said last week. Bidders registered for the Istanbul grid sale include Enerjisa Enerji Uretim AS, the joint venture between Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS and Austria’s Verbund, and Mmeka Makina Ithalat Paz. & Tic. AS, which placed the $2.99 billion winning bid for the other half of Istanbul’s network on Aug. 9.

Istanbul Anadolu Yakasi Elektrik Dagitim AS, also known as Ayedas, serves about 2 million commercial and household subscribers in the eastern half of Istanbul, according to 2008 data published on the agency’s website. About 9 percent of the grid’s energy is stolen, according to the website.

Akdeniz Elektrik Dagitim AS has 1.5 million subscribers around Antalya, with a theft rate of nine percent.

Toroslar Elektrik Dagitim AS, which provides power to 2.6 million subscribers in and around Adana, also has a theft rate of about nine percent.

The Istanbul grid drew 11 bidders, Akdeniz 15 and Toros 13.

To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Bryant in Ankara at [email protected]; Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem at [email protected].

via Turkey Selling Final Three Electricity Grids, Including Istanbul, Antalya – Bloomberg.