Bourse gong rings for retailer Teknosa

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish industrial conglomerate Sabancı Holding’s consumer electronic retailer arm, Teknosa, began trading on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) yesterday.

“For the first time in more than 10 years, a Sabancı Holding company has been taken public. Teknosa is the star of its sector. It is a company that is the apple of Sabancı Holding’s eye, a leader in e-retail,” said Zafer Kurtul, the chief executive of the holding at the gong ceremony at the IMKB.

“There was high demand both form Turkey and abroad [during the book building]. The total demand exceeded the public offering 2.3 fold. Individual investors constituted 55 percent of the total offering with an average investment of 8,000 Turkish Liras, ” he said.

The total value of the shares traded on the IMKB is about 12.6 million liras. “Foreign buyers of Teknosa shares are long term investors,” said Attila Penbeci, the general manager of AK Yatırım, which has led a consortium of 28 brokerage houses during the IPO process. “There was demand from continental Europe and Britain.”

Farmer goes public
Agriculture Organic Food, a Turkish firm farming on 1.6 million square meters of land in Bismil, a district in the eastern province of Diyarbakır, is set to offer 35 percent of its stakes to the public. The book building for the initial public offering (IPO) will take place on May 23, 24, 25. The firm aims to become the largest organic cotton producer in Turkey using the proceeds of the IPO.