International groups circle Turkey’s Dogan

News Corp has reportedly pulled out a move to acquire a stake in Turkish media group Dogan Yayin after the price rose too high. The news comes as a number of international media firms including Time Warner and Germany’s RTL Group have also reportedly expressed an interest in acquiring assets from the Turkish company, which operates a number of free-to-air and pay TV stations. 


This comes as the company is embroiled in a tax dispute with the country’s government; it is looking to raise US$2.5bn (€1.8bn) to cover the fines if it loses a legal battle to have them overturned. 


Dogan has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to advise it on sale options, although many analysts believe that it might not reach a sale until a new law is introduced that changes the status of foreign ownership for media companies.

A new law is expected to be passed by the end of the year that would lift the foreign ownership cap on media assets from 25% to 50%. 
Dogan has issued a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange that noted its sales process was continuing, but that there were “no new developments”.