Istanbul's public sea transport service Istanbul Deniz Otobusler (IDO) was privatized on Friday, with the Tepe-Akfen Group (TAV) purchasing 100 percent of the shares for 861 million U.S. dollars, Xinhua reported.
As part of the privatization program of the municipal government, the tender was held at the Halic Congress Center by the Golden Horn among five corporations, with the Tepe-Akfen- Souter-Sera joint venture making the highest bid.
The Competition Board and the Istanbul Municipal Assembly will evaluate the tender in the coming days before approving the legitimacy of the sale.
IDO, established by the Istanbul municipality in 1987, services 18 lines with 25 sea buses, 10 fast ferries, 17 automobile ferries. It also operates 36 ports.
The company made profit last year, and its expected turnover for 2011 is 380 million Turkish Lira (about 238 million dollars).
TAV is an Istanbul-based international corporation best known for running Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, as well as many other airports around Turkey and several large-scale construction projects.
TAV board member Irfan Erciyas said the group had been preparing for the tender for six months and had a price in mind between 700 million dollars and one billion dollars.
The group had conducted extensive feasibility studies about IDO and were confident that it would be a profitable venture, Erciyas said, adding that their primary goal was to create new lines and adjust the service hours to better meet the passengers' need.
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