Russian tourism giant’s Turkish unit asks for suspension of bankruptcy

Dinçer Gökçe ISTANBUL

AA Photo

Russia’s tourism giant Tez Tour’s Turkish unit Alkan Group has requested for the suspension of bankruptcy for over 322 million Turkish Liras ($136.3 million) of debts due to the economic problems in Russia and Egypt. The company brought over 1 million tourists to Turkey last year.

The court accepted the request and appointed a judicial trustee to the company, according to the court documents.

Tez Tour has operations in 28 countries, the most significant of which is Turkey. Alkan Group began facing financial problems in the second half of 2014 due to the economic and political problems in Russia and Egypt, said the documents. Alkan Group applied for the suspension of bankruptcy on Jan. 14 after a series of execution proceedings from several debts. The company also presented a detailed financial recovery program to the court.

Alkan Group attracted 1 million tourists to Turkey last year, a majority of whom were Russians with higher income, said the documents. The company has 99 tourism agencies in Turkey and works with 1,272 hotels in around 40 provinces.

Alkan Group reached approximately 1 billion liras ($423.5 million) of revenue in 2014, according to the documents. A majority of the $136.3 million debts were to hotels, with the remaining to banks.

The company plans to raise equity capital and sell a number of properties to overcome the financial difficulties.