The sell-off of the last of the three banks created from state-owned Etibank was completed on 24 January when Denizbank was bought by Zorlu Holdings for $66 million in an auction shown live on a private television channel. The day before, Basaran Holdings had won the bidding for Anadolubank with an offer of $69.5 million. The largest part of Etibank, which carries the same name, was sold to Dogan Kumascilik Teks on 20 January for $185 million. The buyers now need to get official approval to complete the purchases (MEED 31:1:97).

Other parts of the privatisation programme are also moving ahead. Privatisation officials say two bids have been received for a 30-40 per cent stake in state-owned iron and steel maker Eregli Iron & Steelworks (Erdemir). One is from Rumeli Metal Sanayi and the other from a group of investors from the Black Sea region, called the Zonguldak & Black Sea Eregli Investors.