Turkish Sabancı plans to sell its bus business

ISTANBUL - Reuters

A Temsa team is seen having visited a bus fair in Belgium last October. DHA photo

Turkish conglomerate Sabancı Holding has mandated Credit Suisse to sell its bus-making unit Temsa Global to focus on its core businesses, two sources close to the deal told Reuters.

Sabancı Holding was not immediately available to comment, while Credit Suisse declined to speak about the matter.

“Temsa is a business which makes sense for strategic investors, and there were some indicative bids from interested parties a few days back,” said one of the sources.

“Sabancı has been looking to sell this asset for a while though. They have a wide range of assets and a diversified portfolio, but this one has been earmarked for a disposal,” said the same source.

Temsa has annual production capacity of 11,500 vehicles. Its major markets include Turkey, Germany, Italy, Austria and Sweden, according to its website.

Temsa, which had been restructuring after the financial crisis began in 2008, also has a production facility in Egypt but halted production there after the turmoil in the country.

The company had revenue of $604 million in 2012, with $164 million of it coming from exports, according to its website.