(Bloomberg) -- Italy’s Astaris SpA has paused the sale process of its minority stake in a multibillion-dollar toll road and suspension bridge project in Turkey as bids were lower than it expected, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
All three bids the company received for its 18.1% stake were significantly lower than the €405 million ($440 million) Astaris had pegged as the value of its holding, said the people, who asked not to be named because talks are private.
Astaris was working with Lazard Inc. to sell the asset, the Gebze–Orhangazi–Izmir motorway and bridge, Bloomberg News reported in June.
Apart from Astaris, Turkish builders Nurol Insaat, Ozaltin Insaat and Makyol Insaat each have 26% stake in Otoyol Yatirim ve Isletme AS, the venture operating the project, while Gocay Insaat holds the remaining 4%.
Representatives for Lazard, Nurol and Gocay declined to comment. Astaris didn’t respond to emailed questions seeking comment. Spokespeople for Otoyol Yatirim, Ozaltin, Makyol could not be reached for comment.
Astaldi SpA - the original Italian contractor of the project - entered a court-supervised debt restructuring in 2018. Following that, while the core of the company was taken over by peer Webuild SpA, some of its non-core assets including the stake in Otoyol were left behind in an entity renamed Astaris.
The 420-kilometer (260-mile), $7 billion toll road connects Turkey’s commercial heartland Istanbul with the Aegean port city of Izmir, and includes a 3-kilometer, $1.2 billion suspension bridge across the Sea of Marmara. The concession to operate the road will end September 2035.
--With assistance from Giulia Morpurgo.
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