Turkey

The chronically lossmaking Scunthorpe steelworks, which three years ago renamed itself British Steel, is to get a new, Turkish, owner, The Times reported. The UK government, which marshalled British Steel into insolvency earlier this summer, the latest failure of the hapless Meyohas brothers who run Greybull Capital, has named Ataer Holding as the preferred bidder for the sprawling Scunthorpe plant. Ataer is an arm of Oyak, Turkey’s military pension fund, and also owns nearly about 49 per cent of Turkey’s biggest steel group, Erdemir.

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A rescue deal for British Steel is in sight after a Turkish investment group owned by the country’s military pension fund reached a provisional agreement for a takeover of the stricken company, The Irish Times reported. Under the terms of the agreement announced on Friday, Ataer Holding was named as the preferred bidder for Britain’s second-largest steelmaker. It now has two months to conduct due diligence and complete the paperwork.

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The frontrunner in the bidding for British Steel is a Turkish investment group owned by the country’s military pension fund, which is chaired by a former two-star army general, the Financial Times reported. Ataer Holding, a wholly owned investment vehicle of the Turkish Armed Forces Assistance Fund, has been in negotiations with the UK government over financial support for a takeover of British Steel, which fell into compulsory liquidation in May.

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An investment group owned by Turkey’s military pension fund is in last-minute talks about a takeover of British Steel, offering hopes of a deal that could save thousands of jobs, the Financial Times reported. Ataer Holding, a wholly owned vehicle of state military retirement scheme Oyak that is also the largest shareholder in Turkish steel group Erdemir, is negotiating with the UK government about acquiring the collapsed steelmaker, according to two people familiar with the matter.

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Turkey is leaving banks to sort out the restructuring of debt by themselves. With half of 400 billion lira ($72 billion) of troubled loans in the country already reorganized, the government won’t cover any losses incurred from bad loans, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak told reporters in the capital, Ankara, Bloomberg News reported. The economy will be better off once the balance has been dealt with, he said. “The level of success depends on them,” the minister said. “Some say ‘government should cover losses’ -- that won’t happen.

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The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)RWednesday directed IDBI Bank, the lead lender of debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech, to file an affidavit listing out new terms and conditions if a fresh round of bidding is conducted, Business Standard reported. A two-member bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya has asked IDBI Bank to file an affidavit by Friday in this regard. The appellate tribunal has listed the matter for next hearing on Monday. "Counsel appearing for lenders is allowed to file new terms and conditions in case fresh bidding takes place," the bench said.

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More than a year after the onset of an economic calamity that has shaken the once-indomitable hold of Turkey’s strongman president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this nation of 80 million people remains stuck in uncomfortable proximity to crisis, he International New York Times reported. The latest indication came on Monday, as the Turkish currency, the lira, surrendered more than 3 percent of its value against the dollar in early trading in Asia before slightly recovering. The drop followed Mr. Erdogan’s abrupt dismissal of the nation’s central bank governor on Saturday.

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After a year of relentless currency crisis, a credit freeze and slide into recession, some global investors are betting Turkey has weathered the worst of its biggest financial and economic shock since its 2001 banking collapse - by accident or design, Reuters reported. While Turkey faces numerous unresolved political and economic challenges, the more extreme fears of a sovereign funding squeeze that threatened national bankruptcy and international bailout, or even a return to its dark past of hyperinflation, appear to have eased.

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The erosion of Turkey’s creditworthiness is a warning signal for South Africa, and investors are ignoring it, according to Informa Financial Markets. The cost of insuring the country’s debt against non-payment dropped to the lowest in 13 months this week, even as a funding crisis at Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. strains government finances while the economy struggles to recover from the worst quarterly contraction since the 2008 financial crisis, Bloomberg News reported.

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