European bank EBRD finalizes stake in Borsa Istanbul

ANKARA

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Borsa Istanbul have finalized the bank's purchase of a 10 percent stake in the Turkish stock exchange.

The acquisition, which had been announced about six months ago, was signed by the bank’s First Vice President Phil Bennett and Borsa Istanbul’s Chief Executive Officer Tuncay Dinc in the presence of Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek at the bourse’s headquarters in Istanbul late Friday.

No financial details were disclosed.

"The long-term investment demonstrates the EBRD’s confidence in the potential of Borsa Istanbul and the Turkish economy as a whole. It also underscores the bank’s support for the country’s comprehensive capital market reform program and the plan to develop Istanbul into a financial center for the region spanning central Asia, south-eastern Europe and north Africa," the bank said in a statement.

Simsek said: “We are here to celebrate the beginning of the strategic partnership between Borsa Istanbul and the EBRD. I would like to thank Borsa Istanbul’s management and the EBRD for this great milestone agreement. Borsa Istanbul is at the heart of our ambition to make Istanbul an international financial center".

To date, the European bank has invested €6.8 billion ($7.5 billion) in Turkey through 170 projects in infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, industry and finance. It has also mobilized about €16 billion ($17.5 billion) for these ventures from other sources of financing.