ISTANBUL'S BREAKTHROUGH YEAR

摘要

Metin Ar, the CEO of Garanti Securities, has been busy. The investment banking arm of Garanti Bank, Turkey's third largest private bank by capital, has historically been the country's number two player in the local equity capital market, and usually handles one or two large initial public offerings (IPOs) per year. Already in 2011, the bank has been a bookrunner for a $250m IPO for consumer goods wholesaler Bizim Toptan and a smaller float for Bimeks, the first Turkish electronics retailer to list its shares. Realestate developer Ronesans should follow with a deal for Tl310m ($195.5m) by the end of the first half of 2011 and in the second half Garanti looks set to handle three other offerings, including a float of about $300m for Gama Enerji, the infrastructure joint venture of local conglomerate Gama and US giant General Electric. "There are also other deals in the pipeline managed by other banks. If all of the transactions around in the market take place, we will certainly have a record year in Turkish capital markets in terms of equity fund-raising," says Mr Ar.