Turkey’s Ronesans Holding — a company close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the builder of his sumptuous palace — has moved to sell its lucrative hospital operation business to a Danish company, a decision some observers see as a sign of anxiety among government cronies over Erdogan’s political prospects and the future of controversial public-private investments.
Turkey’s Competition Board said last week it had approved a deal for Denmark’s services giant ISS to acquire Ronesans’ facility management company, which operates a series of hospitals across the country. The financial terms of the handover have not been disclosed. Under the deal, ISS will take over the operation of five “city hospitals” — vast medical campuses built over the past decade as part of ambitious infrastructure projects, whose economic viability and public cost are increasingly called into question.
