Turkey’s sovereign fund seeing strong global interest, fund head says

ISTANBUL - Reuters

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There is serious global interest in Turkey’s newly founded sovereign wealth fund, particularly from investment banks, and it plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with three other sovereign funds, its head told Reuters. 

In his first interview with international media since being named to lead the fund, Mehmet Bostan also said he planned to finalize the fund’s strategy plan and present it to the cabinet soon, focusing on boosting growth and expanding capital markets. 

“We see serious interest from the world’s financial centers, like New York and London. Investment banks in particular knock on the door a lot,” he said. 

“We are in pursuit of business models that will contribute to Turkey’s interest. There are many requests, but we want to be selective.” 

Turkey’s government has already transferred stakes worth billions of dollars in Turkish Airlines, major banks and other companies to the fund, which was set up last year to help finance big-ticket infrastructure projects. 

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has said the fund is more akin to a national development bank, with its design suggesting an effort to create a funding vehicle by leveraging up assets.