Qatar buys 10 percent shares of Borsa Istanbul for $200 million

Duvar English - Anadolu Agency

The acquisition of a 10 percent share in Turkish stock exchange Borsa Istanbul by the Qatari state Investment Authority was completed on Nov. 30.

According to a statement from the Turkiye Wealth Fund (TWF), the transaction size of $200 million implies a total equity value of $2 billion.

Zafer Sönmez, the Turkish fund’s CEO, said the share transfer was one of the very first steps in long-term cooperation between the two sovereign wealth funds.

"This investment will support value creation and strengthen the corporate governance of Borsa Istanbul before an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the company that we plan to pursue in the medium term," Sönmez said.

The fund is still the majority shareholder of Borsa Istanbul with 80.6% percent of its shares, while the remainder are held by prominent local capital markets institutions, the TVF said. 

The Qatar Investment Authority is the sovereign wealth fund of the Gulf state.

Turkey and Qatar signed 10 new deals on Nov. 26 at a joint meeting held at the presidential palace in Ankara.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Qatar's Emir Tamim Hamad al-Thani co-chaired the meeting, which was slammed by the opposition for being held behind closed doors. 

The 10 percent sale of shares of Turkey's stock exchange Borsa Istanbul topped the list of agreements made during the day. With the latest meeting, the total number of agreements between the two countries has risen to 62.

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