PRESS RELEASES

January 2011

OYAK CEMENT OF TURKEY IS LOOKING FOR ACQUISITION OPPORTUNITIES

Oyak Cement Group, which controls five publicly traded cement companies in Turkey, is looking into opportunities to buy cement plants in nearby countries, said Celalettin Caglar, head of Oyak's cement and automobile group.

The group, owned by Turkey's army pension fund Oyak, is also examining offers from potential foreign buyers for its assets, Caglar said in an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg today.

Turkish cement companies' domestic sales may rise as much as 8 percent to 54 million metric tons this year, Adnan Ignebekcili, head of the country's industry association known as TCMB, said in an interview on Jan. 6. Turkey produced 66 million tons of cement in 2010, with sales reaching $4.5 billion, including $1 billion of exports, Ignebekcili said.

"We have been receiving offers from buyers for a long time," Caglar said. "We are talking with everybody and assessing every offer. We are also looking into some plants in countries near Turkey."

Oyak, which owns Aslan Cimento A.S., Bolu Cimento Sanayii A.S., Unye Cimento Sanayii & Ticaret A.S., Mardin Cimento Sanayii & Ticaret A.S. and Adana Cimento Sanayii Ticaret AS, plans to increase cement sales volume by at least 5 percent in 2011, matching its estimate for the industry's growth, Caglar said.

Export Prediction

Sales volume at the group's cement makers was 10 million tons in 2010 with revenue of 1 billion liras ($633 million) and a capacity utilization of more than 90 percent, Caglar said.
Aslan was unchanged at 557.5 liras as of 3:27 p.m. on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Bolu was unchanged at 1.69 liras. Adana advanced 0.7 percent 5.7 liras, Unye climbed 1.8 percent to 4.58 liras and Mardin rose 3 percent to 8.26 liras.

Cement exports from the group's companies will be about 20 percent of the total sales volume in 2011, down from a quarter in 2010, Caglar said. Turkey's total cement exports may exceed 15 million tons in 2011, almost unchanged from 2010, he said.

The group doesn't plan any initial public offerings for its units in 2011, Caglar said.

Purchases of stakes at Oyak Beton A.S., the group's concrete maker, by Aslan, Unye, Adana and Bolu in late 2010 were aimed at increasing the units' dividend income, he said.

Oyak Cement Group will invest 50 million liras this year in environment-friendly cement, Caglar said. "We invested 130 million liras last year to produce more environment-friendly cement and we will continue to be engaged in this target."