Turkey Wealth Fund's share in Borsa Istanbul not to fall below 51 percent: CEO

The share of the Turkey Wealth Fund in Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange will not fall below 51 percent, Chief Executive Officer Zafer Sönmez said in an interview with BloombergHT TV. Sönmez also said he expects to launch an initial public offering for Borsa Istanbul in the next two years.

Tuesday December 01 2020 08:39 pm

Duvar English

The CEO of Turkey Wealth Fund (TVF) on Dec. 1 said that the fund's stake in Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange would not fall below 51 percent.

The statement came a day after the fund sold 10 percent of its shares to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for $200 million.

In an interview with broadcaster Bloomberg HT, Chief Executive Zafer Sönmez said he expects to launch an initial public offering for Borsa Istanbul in the next two years.

The implied value of Borsa Istanbul in the transaction with QIA was $2 billion, which Sönmez said was a very good value.

The fund wants to issue Eurobond in 2021 every “18 to 24 months,” Sönmez said. “The investors have now recognized us...The fund will be a player that keeps coming to the market, although not as much as the Treasury. You will see a bond of the fund every 18-24 months. We have prepared the infrastructure of this,” he said.

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.

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 in a statement on Nov. 30.