OPAP and Turkcell lodge bids for Turkish lotto

OPAP, which operates the Greek government gambling monopoly, and Turkcell, Turkey’s largest mobile phone operator have lodged seperate bids for the soon-to-privatised national lottery Milli Piyango.
The tender, held by the Privatisation Administration (OIB), is for a 10-year licence to operate the Milli Piyango lottery. It is still not immediately clear when the results of the tender competition, which involves a number of large corporates, is likely to be announced.
OPAP is part of a consortium with Turkish companies Dogus, which owns Garanti Bank; FIBA group, which has interests in finance and Istanbul-based builder Alarko Holding.
Turkcell leads a consortium called Sans Oyun Yatirim Holding AS that includes strategic partner Tepe Insaat.
Interalot and Austrian Lotteries did not bid despite meeting preliminary criteria.
Dogan Holding, which owns Turkey’s largest media company, and its Italian partner Lottomatica pulled out of the tender last week .
Reuters news service reports that Turkey registered privatisation deals of more than $6 billion last year. The state asset sales programme has stalled because of fewer financing opportunities and risk aversion during the global economic downturn.
The winner of the Turkish tender will receive 17 percent of Milli Piyango’s revenue. The lottery posted sales of Lira 459.8 million ($292.9 million) and Lira 331.8 million net profit in 2007, accrding to the latest publicly available figures.

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