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Gazprom Eyes Turkish..

Russian natural-gas giant Gazprom is in talks with businessman and former State Minister Cavit Çağlar. The company seeks to acquire Çağlar’s shares in BİS Enerji, a joint-stock company founded in 1992 and headquartered in Bursa.

If these talks do not bear fruit, then the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, or TMSF, is likely to enter the fray. Cavit Çağlar had turned over his 50-percent stake in Bis Enerji to TMSF back in March. BİS meets the needs of the Bursa Industrial Zone. With its 410 megawatts of power, BİS is the largest plant in the area. The plant’s other partner is Muammer Ağım, the owner of the Metrocity shopping mall in Levent.

According to the agreement signed between Çağlar and TMSF, the businessman will maintain the right to sell his shares in the plant until the end of the year. The money Çağlar obtains from the sale of his shares in BİS Enerji will be used to pay off his debt to TMSF. If Çağlar cannot complete the sale by the end of this year, then TMSF will jump in. Therefore, Çağlar is keeping TMSF abreast of the developments. Read more…

Ersin Özince

Becoming a holding company would be “beneficial” for İş Bankası, according to İş Bankası General Manager Ersin Özince, who announced that the executive committee of the bank has already launched a study to examine the issue in detail.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency yesterday to share his views on a number of issues pertaining to the bank on the 85th anniversary of its foundation, Özince said that if the stakeholders of the bank approve taking an initiative to convert the bank into a holding company, the bank would sustain no negative effects.

He noted, however, that gathering the bank and its subsidiaries under a single roof as a holding would not be possible this year or the next. “We, too, assessed this possibility by analyzing numerous previous companies that underwent similar restructuring processes. We have examined this issue with consultancy companies,” he asserted, adding that although the administration has full confidence that becoming a holding would bring about many advantages, the final decision still belongs to the shareholders of the bank. Read more…

VISITORS: Avi Alkaş of Jones Lang Lasalle estimates some 4,000 visitors will visit Sapphire each weekend once the complex opens.

Sapphire Çarşı, a new shopping complex in the Sapphire skyscraper, is expected to become one of the main attractions in Istanbul, rivaling the old city’s historical monuments. The 300-meter building, which is expected to open in February 2010, will also host 180 residences and an upscale rooftop restaurant

A new shopping center focusing on Turkish design, patterns and traditions will open in Istanbul’s Sapphire skyscraper in February.

The mall will consist of some 134 shops in 30,500 square meters of rented retail space next to the metro station in the city’s 4.Levent district.

Nahit Kiler, chairman of Kiler Holding, which owns Sapphire, envisions the complex becoming one of the main attractions in Istanbul. The 300-meter-high building is the highest in Turkey and the second-highest in Europe. Its 236-meter scenic terrace, which will likely host an upscale restaurant and a nightclub, will be the first of its kind in Turkey. The total cost of the building is $250 million, excluding land, and it is being built to withstand earthquakes of at least magnitude 8. Read more…

Cristiano Ronaldo

World soccer giants spend millions on transfers despite global crisis

The ongoing global financial crisis has caused thousands of firms around the world financial difficulty, with the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and many other economic behemoths receiving the hardest hits from the liquidity crisis, but soccer clubs do not seem to be affected by it at all.

Many international corporations have reduced their expenditures in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis, but leading soccer teams Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Manchester City, Olympique Lyon, Milan, Chelsea and Liverpool have allocated about 1 billion euros to transfers this season. Shelling out 257 million euros, Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid made the greatest transfer moves of the crisis. On the Turkish front, Fenerbahçe secured the big spender slot by spending 72 million euros on transfers. Read more…

Suzan Sabancı

Akbank chairwoman joins Chatham board

Akbank’s Chairwoman and Executive Director Suzan Sabancı Dinçer has become a member of the board of trustees of the world-renowned think tank Chatham House, which has been the home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs for over eight decades. Read more…