The year in Turkish economy

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

MIGROS SOLD
Koç Holding sold 50.8 percent of retail giant Migros to BC Partners on Feb. 14 for $1.98 billion. The sale becomes the "biggest in Turkish history between a fund and a private company."

BAT BUYS TEKEL
British American Tobacco on Feb. 22 gave the best offer for Tekel Cigarettes and bought the company for $1.72 billion. The privatization was approved by the Competition Board on March 28.

QUEUES FOR RICE
The price for rice increased 130 percent in the first three months. For the first time in decades, citizens in İzmir formed queues to buy rice. In April, the Turkish Grain Board got permission to import 100,000 tons of rice.

A CAUTIONARY SALE
Kanaltürk, the anti-government TVchannel, was sold for $30 million by Tuncay Özkan, a journalist who is now in jail for alleged links to the Ergenekon gang. The buyer, İpek Matbaacılık, is allegedly close to the government.

PETROCHEMICALS GIANT SOLD TOCONSORTIUM
Socar-Turcas-Injaz group signed an agreement to take over Petkim, Turkey’s petrochemical giant, on May 30. The sale brought more than $2 billion into the Treasury.

GATEWAY TO IRAQ

Iraq’s Oil Ministry on June 22 let Turkey’s state-owned oil company TPAO take part in bids to operate Iraq’s oil and natural gas reserves, in a decision that eased tensions between Ankara and Baghdad.

PRIVATIZING ELECTRICITY
The government began selling electricity distribution grids July 1. A consortium consisting of Sabancı, Verbund and Enerjisa bought the grid in and around the capital of Ankara for nearly $1.23 billion.

OYAKBANK BECOMES ING BANK
ING Group, which had bought Oyakbank for $2.67 billion, changed the bank’s name to "ING Bank" on July 7. The same month, Koç Holding sold its insurance shares to Allianz.

NUCLEAR TENDER

A consortium, led by Russia’s Atomstroyexport, became the only bidder to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, Mersin. The bid later got its first nod from Turkey’s Atomic Energy Agency.