ANKARA - A consortium led by Saudi Arabia`s Oger Telecom on Friday placed the highest bid of 6.55 billion dollars (5.4 billion euros) in a privatisation auction for a 55-percent stake in the state telecommunications company Turk Telekom.
Oger Telecom -- part of the Oger group owned by the family of assassinated former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri -- was one of two bidders in the televised auction for the privatisation of Turk Telekom, a key asset in the country`s privatisation programme backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The second consortium, led by Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat), the United Arab Emirates telecom service provider, withdrew in the seventh round of bidding, refusing to increase its last offer of 6.5 billion dollars.
The Oger bid requires approval by the Competition Board and the cabinet before the sale is finalised.
Turk Telekom, which has about 19 million subscribers and employs some 61,000 people, has been slated for privatisation for years but the project has failed to take off either because of political wrangling or unfavorable market conditions.
07/01/2005 16:45 GMT