Is it a coincidence?  A few months after Goldman Sachs announced that it's buying 13.3 percent interest in  Turkey’s largest private gas utility, that utility,  AKSA Energy, decides to order 745,000 Itron gas meters.

Yes indeed, Goldman Sachs is an investor in Liberty Lake-based Itron, which develops services and products for the gas, electric and water utility industry.  On March 2012 Itron announced Goldman Sachs held 40,800 shares in Itron common stock.

Which, in fact, is a fairly small percentage of total Itron stock.

No, it's not a conspiracy. This is just the way the world works; especially after noting that this is not AKSA's first order from Itron. 

Many utilities across Eastern Europe are focusing on expanding infrastructure to meet growing energy demands. AKSA is buying gas meters from Itron because that's probably the best choice for that product.

Itron didn't announce the dollar value of the three-year deal.

In March 2012 Itron shares were trading around $44. As of today they're trading at around $42, which is up sharply from yesterday.

Here is the boilerplate announcement by AKSA about the deal:

“As a leading gas distribution company in Turkey, we are pleased to work with Itron. We’ve used Itron meters for years and these new meters provide embedded technology for smart meter applications that we aim to implement in the near future,” said Yasar Aslan, AKSA’s CEO. “AKSA plays a key role in the Turkish market and relies on Itron for positioning us for the future.”

 

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