Gate Gourmet Participations Espana S.L., a subsidiary of gategroup, has sold its entire 56.25 percent share of Ucak Servisi Anonim Sirketi, a publicly traded entity on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, to Turkraft Holding A.S. of Istanbul.

The sale is valued at approximately CHF 30 million, which represents a premium of more than 10 percent on the cash value of the asset. The transaction will have a negative book impact of approximately CHF 3 million due to foreign exchange conversion implications.

After divestiture of USAS’ airline catering assets in 2006 and closing of the airport restaurant business in mid-2010, gategroup had no further operating activities in Turkey. Therefore, gategroup has decided to divest these assets to free up trapped cash and streamline its structure.

The divestiture is one element of gategroup’s longer-term capital strategy and management of its balance sheet. In this same vein, gategroup is currently reviewing refinancing options with the goal of finalizing in the first half of 2012.