SOCAR eyes selling of part of stake in Petkim

By Azernews

By Nigar Abbasova

SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.S, which realizes huge projects in Turkey, plans to sell a part of its stake in Turkish petrochemical giant Petkim.

The sale of the part of the stake is expected to take place until late October 2016. Direct participation share of SOCAR Turkey Enerji in the petrochemical complex amounts to 5.32 percent. The sale is not expected to affect significantly the overall controlling block of shares volume in Petkim.

The company earlier sold 2.75 percent of its stake in Petkim to a foreign investment fund, implementing an ordinary business deal of selling stake acquired few years ago at a lower price. Purchase of the Petkim’s stake by a foreign investment fund was assessed as a sign of high economic attractiveness of the stake.

Income of Turkish Petkim petrochemical complex amounted to approximately $128.049 million in the first half of 2016 compared to $78.81 in the same period of 2015, according to the Turkish Public Disclosure Platform (PDP)

Assets of the company in June 2016 stood at $1.69 billion compared to $1.85 in 2015. Petkim’s liabilities in the reported period amounted to $0.41 billion facing a decrease of 23.9 percent within a year, while the volume of fixed liabilities stood at $ 0.36 billion facing an increase of 0.9 percent.

Market value of the Turkish Petkim petrochemical complex is currently estimated at $2.2 billion. Petkim produces plastic packages, fabrics, detergents, and is the sole Turkish manufacturer of such products, while a quarter of the volume is exported.

Moreover, SOCAR Turkey Enerji earlier announced about its plans of offering Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2020, as the company is looking to become publicly traded.

Zaur Gahramanov, Company’s General Manager earlier said there is a great interest in shares of SOCAR Turkey Enerji, adding that the utmost objective  is to make it an open company by retaining SOCAR’s majority stake- at least 51 percent, and the rest of the shares will be open to the market

SOCAR began its activity in Turkey after privatization of Petkim Holding in 2008 and has been operating under brand name of SOCAR Turkey. The company was acquired by SOCAR as a result of a tender of privatization.