[Intl-tobacco] Turkey Cancels Auction of Tobacco Co!

[Robert Weissman]

Turkey Cancels Auction of Tobacco Co. -
Associated Press
 November 11, 2003

 Ankara, Turkey -- Turkey canceled the auction process for the
state-owned Tekel tobacco concern Tuesday, a week after officials said
the bids it had received were too low. Japan Tobacco International
placed the highest bid with $1.15 billion, the Privatization
Administration said. The other bidder was British American Tobacco, and
the amount of its bid was not disclosed.

 Turkish officials said the bids had been far lower than Turkey
expected. "The tender committee has evaluated the bids and decided to
cancel the tender," the Privatization Administration said in a
statement. It did not say whether an auction process would be launched
again in future.

 Tekel's alcohol operations are also on sale and attracted three bids:
one from Turkish industrial-financial conglomerate Sabanci Holding,
another from the Tahincioglu Group and a third from Tutsab, a local
distributor for Tekel products. Tutsab placed the highest bid, offering
$292 million. The sale of alcohol operations is likely to be approved.

 Turkey was hoping to make at least $3 billion from the sale of Tekel's
tobacco and alcohol operations. Turkey has decided to sell Tekel and
other state-owned companies as part of an International Monetary
Fund-backed economic recovery program.