Turkish Coca-Cola bottler Coca-Cola Icecek Uretim is considering an initial public offering, according to a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange, reported Dow Jones.
Brewer Anadolu Efes Biracilik ve Malt Sanayi, which has a 40 per cent stake in Coca-Cola Icecek, said in the statement that Schroder Salomon Smith Barney and Turkish broker Is Yatirim Menkul Degerler were assigned to "conduct initial work for the planned offering." Timing will depend on market conditions, according to the report.
Cola-Cola Icecek has five plants in Turkey with a total capacity of 300 million bottles, Dow Jones added. It also has operations in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, worth an annual $50 million in sales, according to the daily paper Millyet.
The paper said that Coca-Cola Icecek sales were $600 million in 2001, down 7 per cent from a year earlier due to the country's financial crisis. The company expects a 6 per cent increase in 2002.
Turkey is the sixth-largest Coca-Cola market in Europe and 17th in the world, noted the report.