Speaking to the Anatolia news agency yesterday, Yavrucu stated that has Alarko spent $440 million on energy investments. Of this figure, $40 million was used for electricity production projects, he added. The company’s plans to allocate $2.5 to $3 billion for electricity production investments over the next five years, Yavrucu stated. The company is also interested in electricity distribution tenders, so, he stressed, this anticipated budget might increase further.
Alarko is currently engaged in talks with foreign energy firms on establishing a partnership to venture into the electricity production industry together, said Yavrucu. “We are negotiating with firms from Europe, the US and the Far East, but we have yet to reach a conclusion. We are planning to make a serious investment. Currently the share of energy in the holding’s turnover is around 12 to 13 percent. Our aim is to increase this figure to 30 percent within the next five years,” he stated.
Yavrucu pointed to hydroelectricity and thermal power plants as the fields the company especially wants to operate in.
Construction on a hydroelectric plant worth around $130 to 150 million will start in the Toros Mountains near Adana this year, he said, stressing that the company’s energy investments will be especially intensified three years from now. Yavrucu asserted that a great portion of energy investments made in Turkey are not based on any plan or program and predicted that such projects will surely be eliminated over time.
On Alarko’s tourism investments, Yavrucu said a project is about to be launched in northern Cyprus on 1,114 acres of land the company purchased. The company also plans to construct a downtown hotel in İstanbul. “It will be a five-star hotel located in Levent. We also want to build two more hotels in the city centers of Ankara and İzmir in the next five years. Each of them will cost around $150 million,” said Yavrucu. Alarko does not have a plan to launch an initial public offering (IPO) soon, he stated, but that option remains on the table depending on the markets.
