The consortium plans to convert the premises into an agricultural production facility, including food processing and storage.
The parties had been conducting talks over the sale since December of last year. Meeting during Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan’s visit to London this week, BAT and the Tokat Development Consortium signed a deal for the purchase of the factory. The former Tekel factory had remained unused since its sale to BAT.
The consortium’s president, Mehmet Soyupak, told Today’s Zaman on Friday that they expected to turn the place into a profitable facility and provide jobs for hundreds of people as part of an agricultural production plant project. He said they had been conducting feasibility studies for the project since April 2007.
Noting that they planned to establish research and development (R&D) centers as the first step of the project later this year, Soyupak said the new facility could export agricultural products to Russian and Middle Eastern markets. He said they would hire around 1,000 employees in the next four years.
