Turkey's largest foreign investor, SOCAR, has acquired EWE Turkey Holding and its group of companies, which manages the operations of the German energy company EWE AG in Turkey.
Image: SOCAR Turkey to supply natural gas to Kayseri and Bursa. Photo: courtesy of sephirot17/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
“The purchase of this natural gas distribution business will complete our investment chain in Turkey, creating additional value for Azerbaijan and Turkey,” said Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR.
Turkey’s largest foreign investor, SOCAR, has acquired EWE Turkey Holding and its group of companies, which manages the operations of the German energy company EWE AG in Turkey. “The purchase of this natural gas distribution business will complete our investment chain in Turkey, creating additional value for Azerbaijan and Turkey,” said Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR.
SOCAR aims to become a major industrial actor in Turkey through the wide range of investment projects and acquisitions. In the next step SOCAR acquired Bursagaz, Kayserigaz, Enervis, EWE Energy and Millenicom, the companies within EWE Turkey Holding. SOCAR has been supplying natural gas to the Turkish market for the last 12 years and began expanding its operations this year through the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), a major joint project between Turkey and Azerbaijan. The acquisition of EWE Turkey will enhance the value of the natural gas distribution sector and create favorable conditions for SOCAR to access directly the end customer market in Turkey. The acquisition process will be finalized after the approval by the Competition Authority and other related organizations.
Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, stressed that natural gas distribution is one of the key links in completing the investment chain in Turkey. He said: “Since 2013, SOCAR, the global brand of Azerbaijan, has been supplying 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year wholesale in the Turkish market. TANAP pipeline, which was commissioned last year, created more favorable conditions for the export of natural gas from Azerbaijan. The synergies created by purchasing EWE’s assets in Turkey will bring significant benefits to the economies of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Thus, SOCAR’s entry into the natural gas distribution business in Turkey is a commercially expedient strategic step that completes the links of the production-transportation-distribution chain. Therefore, after the integration of EWE assets into our company, we will continue to evaluate other opportunities in the market. ”
Source: Company Press Release