Turkish treasury transfers some shares to wealth fund

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's treasury shares in several companies like Ziraat Bankasi, Borsa Istanbul, and Turkish Petroleum (TP), have been transferred to the country's sovereign wealth fund, according to Turkey's Prime Ministry statement on Sunday.

Treasury shares in state-run lender Ziraat Bankasi, the country's stock exchange market Borsa Istanbul, General Directorate of Post and Telegraph Organization (PTT), Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), national petroleum producer TP, information and communication services and satellite technologies company TURKSAT, and 6.88 percent treasury shares in a major telecommunication company TurkTelekom plus Turkey's official mining company Eti Maden and General Directorate of Tea Enterprises (CAYKUR), were all transferred to the country's recently established sovereign wealth fund, Turkish prime ministry said.

The Prime Ministry said the existing management and business policies of these companies would continue in accordance with their investment and growth strategies, and would continue to collaborate with existing shareholders plus international financial institutions.

The official statement also noted Turkey's Sovereign Wealth Fund would operate these companies under the Strategic Investment Plan to be approved by the Council of Ministers.

State-run giant lender Ziraat Bankasi, which was the sector leader with around 330 billion Turkish liras (approximately $110 billion) total assets as of Q3 last year, has over 25,000 employees and more than 1,800 branches across the country.

TP, a state controlled national oil company, spearheads Turkey's domestic and international exploration and production activities by cooperating with international oil companies such as Shell, Halliburton and Chevron. The company will make $1.7 billion in investments in 2017 for oil and natural gas exploration and to increase its annual oil production to $28.5 billion barrels in 2017, according to Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister.

The country's official post office PTT network includes around 4,500 offices, 40,000 workers and over 7,000 vehicles. Nearly all offices provide customers with banking services with PTT Bank which was introduced in March 2004.