Astaldi-led group to build Golden Horn bridge

MILAN Dec 9 (Reuters) - A joint venture led by Italian construction group Astaldi (AST.MI) has won a Turkish bridge contract worth 147 million euros ($189 million), the company said on Tuesday.

The bridge will cross the Golden Horn inlet of the European bank of the Bosphorus Strait. Construction is expected to start at the beginning of 2009, Astaldi said in a statement.

Astaldi has 51 percent of the project. Its local partner is Gulermak, a partner in the construction of the Kadikoy-Kartal underground line in Istanbul.

"The new project further confirms the effectiveness of Astaldi's foreign commercial policy, which targets areas where the group has already solid experience," Chief Executive Giuseppe Cafiero said in the statement.

Astaldi shares were up 3.3 percent at 3.59 euros at 1451 GMT, outperforming the 0.8 percent gain of Milan's Mibtel .MIBTEL index. (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, editing by Will Waterman)