Bourse Istanbul to pick partner in third quarter

ISTANBUL - Reuters

Bourse Istanbul (BIST) will choose one of the exchanges bidding to buy into it by the end of the third quarter and will be ready to float by 2016, chairman Ibrahim Turhan told Reuters.

Turhan said he expected the state-owned bourse to be ready for a stock market listing from the first quarter of 2016, a major part of Turkey’s ambitions to make Istanbul a regional financial hub.

Turkey has merged the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Gold Exchange and Derivatives Exchange into Bourse Istanbulahead of a planned privatisation as it seeks to attract growing trade from the world’s top investment banks and brokers.

“We talked to all technology provider bourses on a global scale. We received non-binding bids and all of them have their own characteristics ... We are about to start negotiating,” Turhan said in an interview late on June 21.

Turhan said in May that talks were continuing with international groups including Deutsche Boerse, the CME Group, owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan also said in May that Turkey was in talks with the LSE and Nasdaq about strategic partnerships with Bourse Istanbul.

Bourse Istanbul has said the state will retain a 49 percent stake but will divest up to 41 percent, part of it through a flotation. The remaining 10 percent is held by other investors.