WILL NEW POLICIES RESTORE INVESTOR CONFIDENCE?
If a plentiful supply of shares is the tangible evidence of a developed capital market, Turkey need not wait long for its market to take off. At he end of June, the government summoned business leaders to Ankara to hear a five-hour presentation of the state's privatization proposals for the first of its huge stable of 180 economic enterprises. The businessmen came away with the knowledge that five of their operations were cleared for sale, the first possibly next January.
A team from Morgan Guaranty Bank led by Robert Wagner, vice chairman of the US bank's credit committee, and Yuksel Yalcin, senior partner in Turkey of international accountants Price Waterhouse, studied the legal and accounting issues and sifted through 32 state economic enterprises. They identified Turban, Usas, Turk Hava Yollari (THY), Yemsan and Citosan as companies that could be sold almost immediately. Turban is the institution responsible for developing tourist facilities and beach resorts, Usas is a highly lucrative airport services company, THY is the moderately profitable national air carrier, Yemsan a food manufacturer and Citosan cement plant considered to be in demand because of the high level of construction activity in Turkey.