Park Holding fails to buy Istanbul gas grid

The government’s bid to privatize natural gas grids has had another setback as Park Holding, the third bidder for distribution on Istanbul’s European side, joined the first two in failing to make a down-payment before the Jan. 31 deadline.

With its $2.5 billion bid in 2010, Park was authorized by the privatization board to buy the grid since local MMEKA and Aksa lost their rights in the auction by failing to make a down-payment on time.

The board is now set to open a new tender because Park was the final bidder.

Enerjisa, owned by Austria’s Verbund and local conglomerate Sabanci saidon Dec. 30 it had withdrawn from buying the natural gas grid on the Asian side of Istanbul after bidding $1.52 billion.