www.hurriyetdailynews.com - Dubai Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum is selling his financial
assets in Turkey, which include Taib Investment Bank and Dubai Insurance
in order to concentrate on growth in the tourism sector, according to
daily Vatan.
An anonymous investment banker claims that
al-Maktoum wants to sell the assets due to the impact of the 2009 Dubai
debt crisis. Taib Bank was unable to grow due to the debt crisis and as a
result its branch in Turkey was unable to make the expected profits. (source)
According to Vatan, there are three groups interested in buying the bank, one local and two foreign.
Ezcacıbaşı, which had previously shown interest in the bank, is not among those three interested parties.
Dubai
Insurance, meanwhile, made a quick and strong entry into the Turkish
market in 2008, but was also impacted by the global economic crisis and
the Dubai debt crisis. Still, the company managed to hold its own in the
insurance sector in 2011. According to Vatan, a Qatar-based group and a
Western European group are interested in acquiring the insurance
company.
The source told daily Vatan that if the bank and
insurance company were sold as a package, it would be more valuable for
the purchaser, and that he expected the buyer to be from a Gulf state.
Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/dubai-sheik-to-sell-some-assets-in-turkey.aspx?pageID=238&nID=19454&NewsCatID=344 - April 28, 2012
