An IPO of the real estate trust of Turkey's Albayrak will go ahead despite sharp stock market losses and the media-to-logistics group is looking at two more offerings next year, a senior company executive told Reuters.
Last week Islamic lender Kuveyt Turk postponed its initial public offering because of poor market conditions as Istanbul's main stock index has fallen 20 percent this year, faring worse than emerging market peers.
But Mustafa Albayrak, head of construction, property and media at Albayrak, one of several fast-growing family-run conglomerates in European Union candidate Turkey, is upbeat.
"I don't think the current market conditions are very bad," he told Reuters in an interview, saying the 49-percent offering of its Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) would go ahead in the first or second quarter, depending on regulatory approval.
He said Albayrak REIT would be mainly made up of residential assets, and it would likely become the third or fourth largest REIT on the market, where it will compete for investor attention with Is REIT and Sinpas REIT.
Albayrak, founded in 1952 and run by the second generation of seven siblings under the guidance of founder Ahmet Albayrak, also has transport and waste management businesses, runs Trabzon Port and produces tractors.
"After the REIT we are thinking of listing Trabzon Port and (tractor maker) Tumosan. That could take place in 2009," he said, adding it would not sell shares in its media business. "We love the media business and don't want anyone as a partner."
Albayrak, which had revenues of $750 million last year, publishes the generally pro-government Yeni Safak daily and owns a television channel for which it has launched a new expansion plan. Albayrak said the group has its eye on Kral TV, an entertainment channel due to be sold by the TMSF state fund.
The company is also moving into two key new sectors - energy and defence - and is talking to foreign companies about partnerships. It is interested in upcoming tenders for grids and also plans wind and coal-fired power plants.
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