Dubai Sheik to sell some assets in Turkey

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Dubai Sheik Al Maktoum is selling his financial assets in Turkey including Taib Bank and Dubai Insurance. AP photo

Dubai Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum is selling his financial assets in Turkey, which include Taib Investment Bank and Dubai Insurance in order to concentrate on growth in the tourism sector, according to daily Vatan.

An anonymous investment banker claims that al-Maktoum wants to sell the assets due to the impact of the 2009 Dubai debt crisis. Taib Bank was unable to grow due to the debt crisis and as a result its branch in Turkey was unable to make the expected profits.

According to Vatan, there are three groups interested in buying the bank, one local and two foreign.
Ezcacıbaşı, which had previously shown interest in the bank, is not among those three interested parties.
Dubai Insurance, meanwhile, made a quick and strong entry into the Turkish market in 2008, but was also impacted by the global economic crisis and the Dubai debt crisis. Still, the company managed to hold its own in the insurance sector in 2011. According to Vatan, a Qatar-based group and a Western European group are interested in acquiring the insurance company.

The source told daily Vatan that if the bank and insurance company were sold as a package, it would be more valuable for the purchaser, and that he expected the buyer to be from a Gulf state.