Tupras Receives Approval From The Turkish Competition Board

ANKARA - Turkish Competition Board has approved a tender on Tupras to take place in mid-April.
According to data received by the A.A, Tupras will hold a tender and will be privatized as a bloc.
Meanwhile, an amendment on the main contract of Tupras will take place on April 12th at a General Council meeting that will make it possible to establish a new distribution company.
Sources say that the establishment of a new distribution company for Tupras is currently close to impossible. ''However, if we do establish a distribution company, this would add on to the value of Tupras at the time of its privatization.''
Last year (2004), 65.76 percent of Tupras shares were purchased by a company called Efremov Kautschuk GmbH for 1.3 billion U.S. dollars but the Turkish Council of State nullified such a purchase.
The Board of Competition sold 14.76 percent of Tupras shares to international investors last week for 446 million U.S. dollars.
After the sale last week, the share amount of the Board of Competition in Tupras dropped to 51 percent from a previous 65.76 percent.