Turk Telekom 6.68% stake sale planned for Feb-13

The Turkish government will sell a stake of around 7% in Turk Telekom through a secondary public offering in February, sources close to the matter have revealed to Reuters. Work towards selling part of the state’s 32% stake has reportedly intensified after the government successfully raised TRY4.5 billion (USD2.5 billion) from selling part of state-controlled lender Halkbank last month, the sources said. ‘The current projection is that the 6.68% stake will be sold through a public offering in the first quarter of 2013. A block sale is highly unlikely for a sale of this size,’ the source added.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, the Turkish Treasury currently holds a 30% stake in the telco, while Saudi Arabia’s Oger Telecom is the majority owner, with a 55% stake. In 2008 Turk Telekom concluded a successful initial public offering (IPO) for 15% of the government’s shares. At that time the IPO was said to be the seventh largest public offering in the world and the biggest ever in Turkey. As a result of this offering, the Turkish Treasury secured a total of USD1.9 billion in revenue.