Ankara (Reuters) - Turkey's Privatisation Administration (OIB) said on Monday it received five bids in the pre-qualification stage of a tender for the privatisation of national lottery company Milli Piyango. The Turkish government's privatisation process has taken a hit as investors largely stay on the sidelines due to the global financial crisis. The following are the firms bidding for Milli Piyango in the pre-qualification stage:

The bidding process for the privatization of the Turkish national lottery, Milli Piyango, has been extended by a little more than one month from its January 15 deadline at the request of investors. Privatization authorities told the Reuters news agency that interested parties now have until February 27 to apply for pre-qualification in order to tender a bid. “There is no shortage of interest from investors in the national lottery,” said Metin Kilci, Chairman for the nation’s Privatization Administration.

Turkish conglomerate Alarko Holding said it is still in search for a foreign partner to jointly bid for the tender for Turkish national Lottery Milli Piyango. In a filing to the Stock Exchange, the company responded to media reports that Alarko Holding would bid together with Greece OPAP and Turkish Dogus Group. Alarko said that it was "still carrying out negotiations with the Milli Piyango administration and would make necessary announcements when a deal with a foreign company is materialised".

Rob van der Gaast has a background in sports journalism. He worked for over 7 years as the head of sports of the Dutch National Radio and has developed new concepts for the TV and the gambling industry. Now, since 7 years, he operates from Istanbul as an independent gambling research analyst. He specializes in European gambling matters and in privatizations of gambling operators.

Rob van der Gaast war vorher tätig im Bereich des Sportjournalismus. Er arbeitete über 7 Jahre an der Spitze des holländischen Sport-Radios und entwickelte neue Konzepte für die TV- und Glücksspielindustrie. Die letzten sieben Jahre ist er von Istanbul aus, als unabhängiger Spielanalytiker tätig.