Abraaj, Time Warner Said to Place Binding Bids for Turkey’s ATV

Time Warner Inc. (TWX) and Abraaj Capital Ltd., a Dubai-based buyout firm, placed binding bids for ATV television channel owned by Istanbul-based Calik Holding AS, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Calik Holding, which has interests in energy, textiles and banking, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), which Calik hired to advise on the sale, will assess the bids within a month, said the people, who declined to be identified because the process is confidential. A bid from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (NWSA) was rejected as uncompetitive, they said.

News Corp. spokesman Jack Horner and a spokesman for Time Warner declined comment. Serhat Albayrak, head of Calik’s media group, didn’t respond to e-mailed questions and four telephone calls to his office seeking comment. Selcuk Yorgancioglu, head of Abraaj’s Turkish office, declined comment.

Calik paid the government $1.25 billion for ATV and the Sabah newspaper after winning loans from state-run banks and its Qatari partner in 2008.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ercan Ersoy in Istanbul at eersoy@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Bentley at mbentley3@bloomberg.net