Three consortia of international banks have submitted bids to become advisers on the sell-off of state telecoms company Turk Telekom.

The bidders are:

Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston, Lazard Freres, Nikko Securities, UBS, Global Securities and Garanti Bank

Merrill Lynch, ABN Amro Rothschild and Is Investment

JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Turkish Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi and Turk Ekonomi Bank.

All the bidders are due to give presentations to the Privatisation Administration (OIB) on 5-6 June. The winning consortium is expected to be chosen soon after.

The government plans to sell a 49 per cent stake in Turk Telekom. A 20 per cent share will be sold in a block sale to global buyers, 14 per cent to international and local investors through public offerings, 5 per cent to employees and 20 per cent to the postal services administration. A study co-ordinated by Goldman Sachs values the company at $12,000-14,000 million (MEED 8:5:98).