By Jessica Mead
Turkey's decision last month to cancel a $5.7 billion roads and
bridges privatization tender hasn't discouraged investment from the
country, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said Thursday.
Speaking at a conference in London in Turkish, Mr. Yildirim
described the decision not to go ahead as political, but dismissed
concerns that this had deterred investors from looking at Turkish
infrastructure privatization projects.
"We since made $5 billion from similar projects and they were
successful so there was no hesitation as a result of the cancelled
tender. Turkey is above and beyond such worries," he said in
translated comments. Since the government annulled the
bridges-and-roads tender on Feb. 22, Turkey has privatized at least
four electricity grids worth $3.4 billion.
Had the tender gone ahead it would have been the second-biggest
privatization in Turkey, after that of Turk Telekomunikasyon AS
(TTKOM.IS) in 2005, when 55% of the company was bought for $6.55
billion.
Regarding Standard & Poor's Corp.'s upgrade late Wednesday
of Turkey's sovereign credit rating to double-B-plus, one notch
below investment grade, Mr. Yildirim repeated a familiar government
stance that the upgrade was too little, too late.
Write to Jessica Mead at jessica.mead@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
