Page 93 - TURKRptOct19

86.4% a year earlier.
Shares in Pegasus declined 0.64% d/d to trade at TRY62.10 per share on September 10.
Pegasus divests stake in Kyrgyz subsidiary. Pegasus Airlines has announced that it has agreed to sell its 49% stake in Kyrgyzstan-based Air Manas to Avia Trade Corp in the UK for a consideration of €98,000.
“The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on Pegasus’s operations or its financial results,” the carrier said in a filing with the Borsa Istanbul.
Air Manas, a consolidated subsidiary of Pegasus, operates domestic scheduled flights in Kyrgyzstan.
Pegasus did not say why it decided to divest its stake in the subsidiary. ● Istanbul Airport
Owners of a concession to operate Istanbul’s new $11bn mega airport have abandoned a plan to potentially sell a stake in the venture, people familiar with the matter have informed Bloomberg.
The four construction firms have also terminated a mandate given to Lazard to provide a valuation of Istanbul Airport and manage discussions with possible buyers, they reportedly added.
It is too early to sell a stake in the consortium, IGA Havalimani Isletmeleri, because the airport only started operating in April, one of the people was cited as saying.
IGA has the biggest corporate debt load in Turkey. It borrowed around €5.7bn for the airport, located 20 miles outside Istanbul on the Black Sea coast and a facility that spans an area larger than Manhattan.
IGA was founded by five local companies, namely Kalyon, Cengiz, Mapa, Kolin and Limak, in 2013 to construct and operate Istanbul Airport for 25 years.
Istanbul Airport took over air traffic from Turkey’s former main international airport, Ataturk Airport located within Istanbul, on April 6.
The plan is for the giant airport to eventually serve 200mn passengers annually at full capacity after the completion of all four phases by 2028, at which point it should boast six runways.
Between early April and September, the airport served a total of 30mn passengers.
Kalyon Insaat now owns 35% and Cengiz Insaat 25% in the airport business after Kolin Insaat sold its 20% stake earlier this year. Limak and Mapa each retain a 20% stake.
The change in strategy comes following scepticism that the partners could attract buyers given the cost of the 25-year lease, expected to total €22.1 bn ($24.1bn), Bloomberg said.
Turkey’s 56 airports served a total of 140mn passengers in January- August, marking a 2.5% y/y decline, data from airport authority DHMI showed.
The number of domestic passengers dropped 12.9% on an annual basis to 67.7mn while the number of international travellers rose by 9.7% y/y to 72.2mn in the first eight months of the year.
93 TURKEY Country Report October 2019 www.intellinews.com