Top private companies rewarded at ceremony

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Doğan Holding honorary chairman Aydın Doğan (L) poses with the Kale Group’s Zeynep Bodur Okyay during a ceremony. DHA photo

Leading Turkish companies who topped the Capital 500 list, an annual event organized by the local publication Capital magazine, received their prizes at a ceremony held on the evening of Dec. 13 in Istanbul.

Energy, consumption and service companies dominated the list that evaluated performance of 2010, with petrochemical company Türpraş ranking first. It is the second year in a row it has taken the award. Its 2010 revenues hit 26.2 billion Turkish Liras, a 29 percent jump from 2009.

Kale receives award
İbrahim Bodur, honorary president of the Kale Group active in several businesses including ceramics, chemicals and defense, was also recognized during the event sponsored by Vodafone, the second biggest mobile phone operator in Turkey.

Aydın Doğan, the honorary chairman of Doğan Holding, presented the award to CEO of the executive Kale Group Zeynep Bodur Okyay as her father could not attend the evening due to health problems.
Five energy firms, along with seven consumption and service firms, ranked among the top 20 biggest revenue-making companies in 2010.

OMV Petrol Ofisi, the Turkey unit of the Austrian energy giant, posted 16.1 billion liras in revenues last year, according to the Capital 500 list.

Türk Telekom, the country’s biggest land phone operator, ranked third, reaching 10.8 billion liras, while Opet, another oil retailer, followed with 10.5 billion liras in revenue. Shell & Turcas Petrol ranked as the sixth biggest revenue maker with 9.3 billion liras. Turkcell, Turkey’s leading GSM company, reported 9 billion liras.

No plans to sell assets
Meanwhile, Doğan Holding has no plans to sell any media assets, according to its honorary chairman.
“We have had no such idea of selling any of our media assets, including Kanal D, Hürriyet, Posta or CNN

Türk,” Doğan said, talking to journalists on the sidelines of the Capital 500 ceremony.

Doğan said he wished success to the media companies the group had earlier departed from.