Sale of Öger Tours falls victim to crunch

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

refid:10771027 ilişkili resim dosyası

Vural Öger, the owner of the company and also a member of the European Parliament, said the two sides had a preliminary agreement Oct. 31, but "the other party disclosed that the economic crisis was a reason [for not sealing the deal]."

Lebedev might have been adversely affected by the crisis, Öger told Anatolia News Agency. "Then I said ’Let’s wait.’ Nothing has changed for me. We will continue on our path," he said.

Commenting on the possibility of a deal in the future, Öğer said if conditions improve, talks might restart.

Lebedev agreed in principle to acquire 76 percent of Öger Tours in August last year. But Vural Öger continuously said there is no final agreement and some details have to be sorted out.

Lebedev, meanwhile, complained that he could not find financing in Germany for the acquisition, in a statement he made last November. According to German newspapers, Lebedev had offered 125 million euros for the stake.

With 3,100 employees, Öger Tours had revenue of 722 million euros in 2006. The decline in commodity prices, including oil, hit Russian oligarchs hard, as they were caught in the crisis with a total of $110 billion of foreign debt obligations due this year, according to Bloomberg. Russian billionaires are requesting $78 billion in government loans to survive the credit squeeze.