Turkey's Privatization Agency said Friday a joint venture comprised of Singapore's PSA and Turkey's Afken Holding had submitted the highest bid of $755 mn for operating rights to the state railway company's Port of Mersin.

The government said in January it aims to privatize the railway's ports of Bandirma, Izmir, Samsun, Derince, Mersin and Iskenderun by the end of the year. Under the Turkish constitution, property rights of the ports cannot be sold to private investors.
 
The privatization tender for the Mersin seaport is technically complete. The operating rights will last for 36 years.
Akfen Holding has been operating in the construction, tourism and defense sectors with eight companies and 19 partnerships since 1976. It is also one of the three partners of the airport builder and operator Turkish-Austrian Tepe-Akfen-Ventures consortium.
 
The Mersin Port is considered one of the most important ports in the eastern Mediterranean. There are 23 piers in the docks built in a total port area of 786,000 square meters, with a total capacity of 3,800 ships a year.