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Turkey's TAV to bid in Saudi airports tendering

Mon Oct 1, 2007 5:12am EDT

ISTANBUL, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Turkish airports operator TAV Havalimanlari Holding (TAVHL.IS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it planned to bid alone in an Oct 2 tender competition to provide management services for Saudi airports.

In a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange, TAV said the airports covered by the tendering are Riyadh King Khaled International Airport, Damman King Fahd International Airport and Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport.

Other firms participating in the tendering include Singapore's Changi airport operator, German Fraport (FRAG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Paris airport operator ADP (ADP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Amsterdam's Schipol airport operator.

The tendering is expected to end in late November or early December, said a source familiar to the matter.

An analyst said the tender competition will only include management services, but the winning company will have first right of refusal if the airports are subsequently privatised.

"The tender itself does not hold much potential, but what is important here is that if a privatisation takes place after six years the company will have the first right of refusal," said Can Oztoprak, senior analyst at Oyak Securities.

The tender contract will be for a six-year period, he said.

Shares in TAV, which listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange earlier this year, were unchanged at 11.1 lira at 0859 GMT.

TAV operates airports in Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul's main Ataturk airport.

((Reporting by Ercan Ersoy/Thomas Grove; writing by Daren Butler; editing by Greg Mahlich; Reuters Messaging: daren.butler.reuters.com@reuters.net; e-mail: turk.newsroom@news.reuters.com; tel: +90 212 350 7057; fax: +90 212 350 7005))

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