Istanbul's mayor Kadir Topbaş said Tuesday that the privatization process of the Istanbul Gas Distribution Company (İGDAŞ) will begin in November.

Mayor Topbaş stated that İGDAŞ is one of the biggest and most valuable companies of its field both in Turkey and in the world with 5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas sales, 4.6 billion TL (2.06 billion USD) net sales revenues, 279 million TL (125.11 million USD) net profits and 4.2 billion TL (1.88 billion USD) worth of assets.

İGDAŞ has 5 million subscribers as of December 31, 2013.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) currently owns 94.5 percent of İGDAŞ's shares.

It is stated that İGDAŞ's privatization will not cause a rise in gas prices as Turkey's consumer gas prices are subject to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority's supervision and consent.

Current contractual and legal rights of İGDAŞ staff will also be added to tender specifications.

Citigroup and Burgan Investment undertake the consultancy work of the privatization process.