Turkish UN Ro-Ro sees $1bln KKR deal done next week

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

28 Sep 2007

Turkish shipper UN Ro-Ro expects a sale to buyout firm KKR to be completed next week, in a deal valuing the whole firm at 910 million euros ($1.28 billion), CEO Cuneyt Solakoglu told Reuters on Wednesday. Turkey's leading roll-on roll-off shipper had previously said it had agreed to start exclusive talks with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, but last week the chairman of the company said he would never sell. "Despite those who oppose it, we expect at least 85 percent of the company's shares will be sold," the CEO told Reuters. UN Ro-Ro is jointly owned by 45 transport companies, and it mandated Citigroup <C.N> in November to sell a major stake.The firm, which ships large trucks to the Italian port of Trieste every day, was set up in 1993 when the war in the former Yugoslavia made road transport from Turkey to Europe difficult, prompting transport firms to go by sea.It operates a port in the Turkish town of Pendik and is planning another in Ambarli.The deal will add to already high foreign direct investment in fast-growing European Union candidate Turkey, which needs such flows to offset a large current account deficit.