ISTANBOL: State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) Turkey Enerji and Goldman Sachs have signed an agreement to sell a 30 percent stake in the Petlim Limancilik A.S. company, 100-percent owned by the Petkim Turkish petrochemical holding, the company told Reuters news agency.
The cost of the transaction amounted to $250 million, according to the report.
Earlier, the head of SOCAR Turkey Enerji, a board member of the Petkim petrochemical holding Kenan Yavuz said that a part of the Petlim Limancilik company’s shares can be put up for privatization within the construction of the largest and deepest container port in Turkey.
The company has started consultations with Goldman Sachs on the sale of the shares of the Petlim Limancilik A.S. company, according to Yavuz.
Initially, it was planned to put on the privatization 25 percent of Petlim Limancilik shares.
At the same time, Yavuz said that privatization will become an important event, which demonstrates trust to the company and the continuation of investment flow into the country.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) plans to construct the container port by late 2014 – early 2015, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said earlier.
“The sources of financing and contracting companies have already been determined as part of the project,” he said.
“The new port will bring additional revenue to Petkim petrochemical complex, owned by SOCAR in Turkey,” according to Abdullayev. It is reported that the project cost is $400 million.
Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim and Dutch company APM Terminals signed an agreement on construction of a container port with the capacity of 1.5 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) in March 2013.
Capacity of the new port will exceed the capacity of the Aslanjak port by about 50 percent. Its capacity is planned to be increased to 3 million TEU, depending on the needs of the market in the future.
Petkim Petrokimya Holding manufactures plastic packages, fabric, PVC and detergents. It is the only Turkish producer making such products, a quarter of which the company exports.
SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.S and SOCAR International DMCC OGG acquired a 10.32 percent stake in Petkim on March 30, 2012, increasing SOCAR’s stake in the company to 61.32 percent. Some 38.67 percent is in free circulation on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
