Turkey's Star Media Group sold to Azeri oil giant Socar: Report

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR has agreed to acquire Turkey’s Star Media Group, according to sources from both parties. Company logo

Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR has agreed to acquire Turkey’s Star Media Group, sources from both parties have announced without specifying any details of the price, daily Hürriyet reported on its website today.

Star Media Group’s partner Fettah Tamince, also the founder of Rixos Hotels, a tourism sector giant active in eight countries, confirmed earlier this week that they were in discussions about the sale of the media group, however, he said that they had not arrived at a final agreement yet.

Tamince is known for his close links to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who usually spends his holidays at one of the Rixos Hotels.

Star Media Group, which comprises Star Newspaper and Kanal 24, is owned by Fettah Tahmince and Tevhit Karakaya.

Star daily, founded by the Uzan Group in 1999, was transferred to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) in 2004. The group was first bought by Turkish Cypriot businessman Ali Özmen Safa in a tender in 2006 and was later sold to Ethem Sancak. Tamince is a partner of the group since 2009.

Baku-based energy company Socar had purchased Turkey’s petrochemical company formerly owned by the state in 2008.

The Socar-Turkey ties include the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline that carries Azeri crude to Turkey’s Ceyhan Mediterranean oil hub, and the South Caucasus Pipeline that runs parallel to BTC and carries Azeri gas to Turkey and on to Greece.