The Turkish conglomerate Dogan Holding said it had linked up with Citi Venture Capital International in order to bid for the state cigarette company, Tekel, Reuters reported.

Dogan had said in October it was talking to investors with a view to bidding jointly for Tekel, which Ankara is due to privatise early in 2008.
"From now on, all procedures regarding to the tender process will be followed together (with Citi Venture Capital)," Dogan said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
The Privatisation Administration has set a 25 January deadline for bids for the state tobacco enterprise which has annual sales of US$ 8 billion. Earlier attempts to sell the cigarette arm of Tekel failed due to unsatisfactory bids or no bids at all. It was most recently postponed in April when officials said they aimed to boost market share before selling the firm. Tekel has a domestic market share of about 40 per cent. Its market share has fallen from 60 percent since 2001 when Ankara first said it planned to sell the company. (pi)