Turkey Said to Hire Raiffeisen Investment for Ports Sale

The Turkish agency in charge of selling state assets hired Raiffeisen Investment, a unit of Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI), to manage the sale of eight ports owned by state railways and maritime authorities, two people with knowledge of the process said.

Some of the ports, which include Izmir, Derince, Kabatepe and Tekirdag, may be offered to bidders this year, said the people, who asked not to be named because the mandate is private. Raiffeisen was hired for a two-year mandate, one of the people said.

A spokesman for the agency, known by its Turkish initials OIB, declined to comment. Andrea Pelinka-Kinz, a spokeswoman for Raiffeisen Investment, declined to comment.

In December, the agency invited potential advisers to bid for a role on the sale of the cruise-ship and and freight ports of Izmir, as well as ports in Tekirdag, Gulluk, Derince, Kabatepe, Pasaport and Gokceada.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ercan Ersoy in Istanbul at eersoy@bloomberg.net; Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at 8990 or americ@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net