程阳：土耳其彩票私有化硝烟弥漫

Turkcell to bid in lottery privatization tender 

Turkey's leading mobile operator, Turkcell, has said its Şans Oyunlari Yatırım Holding A.Ş. unit will bid in a consortium or alone in a tender for the privatization of the Turkish national lottery, Milli Piyango. 
 
In a statement it released to the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB) on Monday, Turkcell said it plans to participate in the privatization tender.

The telecommunication giant said in February that it had signed a pre-contract with the Tepe Group and that they would cooperate in the Milli Piyango privatization tender.

The privatization process for Turkey's state-owned lottery is expected to begin in August. The Koç Group, the Çukurova Group and İş Yatırım are the other Turkish companies keeping a close eye on the lottery's privatization. The national lottery has a 32 percent market share in Turkey with an average annual turnover of $683 million and $189 million in net profit.

Meanwhile, Turkcell had previously announced that it would consider paying TL 1.1 billion in dividends, half of Turkcell's profit available for distribution in 2008. The company will reach a final decision at its General Council meeting scheduled for May 8 and is expected to begin paying dividends on May 18.
 
31 March 2009, Tuesday
TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES  İSTANBUL

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Wednesday, April 01, 2009 19:22
Turkey to delay lottery privatization
 
ISTANBUL - Turkey will delay the sale of a license to run its national lottery by more than a month to allow bidders more time to prepare offers, said Metin Kilci, chief of Privatization Administration, or ÖİB.

Potential investors had asked for the delay as the "global crisis is affecting privatization as much as any other sector," Kilci said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg late Saturday.

Turkey is offering a 10-year license to run the lottery as part of a program of asset sales designed to help reduce state debt. Milli Piyango, the lottery operator, had net income of 332 million liras ($220 million) in 2007 from gross sales of 1.2 billion liras, according to Treasury figures. It distributed 649 million liras in prize money.

Surprise-free market
The Milli Piyango offer gives investors access to a "clear and surprise-free" market and will be carried out successfully, "although until conditions improve we may be in a slower gear," Kilci said.

The asset sales agency on Nov. 4 gave potential investors until Jan. 15 to apply to take part in the auction, and until Feb. 27 to submit bids. Kilci did not specify the new timetable.

Companies including Athens-based Intralot and Turkey’s Koç Holding have said they may bid for Milli Piyango. Camelot Group, which holds the concession to run the U.K.’s national lottery, and Scientific Games Corp. may also bid, Milliyet newspaper said in July.

Other possible bidders include Essnet, Tatts Group, GTECH Holdings Corp., Lottomatica, Austrian Lotteries and Sisal, Milliyet said.

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2003年，土耳其私有化机构就向政府提交了国家彩票的3个出售方案：希腊模式、英国模式和意大利-澳大利亚模式。

　　希腊模式：由国有经济企业统一经营各种彩票，公开销售债券，通过资本市场把国家彩票私有化。国家彩票保持监督，所有权转移后，政府仍持有控制权。

　　英国模式：在一定时期内由某企业租赁经营国家彩票。

　　意-澳模式：这是私有化机构最为赞成的预选案：在国家彩票的监督下，分别出售每种彩票10年期经营权，国家彩票自己还可以继续出售新发行彩票。

　　提案还要求公共采购法网开一面，允许私有化机构挑选一家咨询公司合作。

——《公益时报》