51 percent of Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge is sold

IC İçtaş came to the signing stage in the negotiations with the Chinese for the sale of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and 51 percent of the Northern Ring Motorway.

Yavuz Sultan Selim-Northern Ring Motorway, Osmangazi Bridge and Gebze-Orhangazi-İzmir Highway, Eurasia Tunnel were built with the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. In these projects, vehicle transfer costs were determined in foreign currency (in dollar rate). The state has guaranteed a certain number of vehicles to pass these projects. If the vehicle passes are below the warranty limit, the state pays the difference.

Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Northern Marmara Motorway were constructed by IC İçtaş İnşaat – Astaldi consortium. The bridge was put into service in the second half of 2016. During the operating phase, there was a significant change in the partnership structure. Italian Astaldi transferred its shares to IC İçtaş a while ago and withdrew from the project.

CORONAVIRUS BARRIER

The sale of 51 percent of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Northern Ring Motorway came to the fore for the first time in the last quarter of 2019. The information that the fund created by China Merchants Expressway, CMU, Zheijiang Expressway, Jiangsu Expressway, Sichuan Expressway and Anhui Expressway will receive 51 percent of Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Northern Marmara Motorway for 688.5 million dollars was shared with the public.

The traffic of meetings with the Chinese has come to a halt, so to speak, due to the coronavirus epidemic that has affected the whole world. In the first half of 2020, no effective meeting could be made. Negotiations regarding the sale were left unfinished; the calendar got longer.

IT HAS COME TO THE LAST STAGE FOR SALES

The negotiations accelerated again with the "normalization" steps taken on a global scale. Especially in the first quarter of this year, it is stated that result-oriented negotiations were held and IC İçtaş and the Chinese came to the signing stage for the sale of 51 percent of Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Northern Ring Motorway.

According to Habertürk's report, sources close to the company confirmed that the negotiations are at the final stage. Sources stated that the sale is likely to be completed in a short time.