FINANCE - Turkey's TAV says consortium including TAV secures $1.2 bln Islamic finance

www.reuters.com - Turkey's TAV Havalimanlari Holding said on Friday that a consortium including TAV secured $1.2 billion in Islamic financing for Medina Airport.
In an e-mailed statement TAV said that the Islamic financing facility was secured from Arab National Bank, The National Commercial Bank and The Saudi British Bank. (full story)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Turkiye Finans H1 up 61 percent, sukuk eyed in 6-9 mths

www.reuters.com - (Reuters) - Turkish Islamic bank Turkiye Finans' net profit rose 61 percent year-on-year to 145 million lira ($80.3 million) in the first half and it plans a $300 million sukuk, or Islamic bond, issue in the next 6-9 months, said general manager Derya Gurerk.
Gurerk told Reuters its net profit target for the whole year was 278 million lira, up 20 percent from 2011. The bank said previously it planned a sukuk issue by the end of the year. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Turkey to mandate banks for sovereign sukuk sale - sources - Turkiye Finans plans corporate sukuk

www.reuters.com - ISTANBUL, July 5 (Reuters) - Turkey is set to mandate HSBC, Citi and Deutsche Bank to manage the sale of its first sukuk, or Islamic bond, banking sources told Reuters on Thursday.
The move by the Treasury, overcoming sensitivities about Islamic finance in the secular republic, should give Turkey access to a wider pool of investors via a global sukuk market estimated at more than $100 billion.
One banker said a size of $1 billion was being targeted, but that the sale amount was still unclear.
"The Treasury is about to finalise meetings about its first sukuk issue, and their choice (for the mandate) will be HSBC, Citi and Deutsche," said one senior banking source in London.
A sovereign sukuk from an economy regarded as one of the Muslim world's most progressive and successful would signal intent on Turkey's part to play a bigger role in Islamic finance.  (source)

BANKING - Turkiye Finans Will Grow 25 Percent in 2012, Aksam Reports

www.bloomberg.com - Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankası AS, a Turkish bank that operates according to Islamic rules barring interest, will grow 25 percent this year, Aksam reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Derya Gurerk.
The shareholders are committed to increasing the bank’s capital to achieve a capital adequacy ratio that will support this rate of growth, Gurerk said, according to the newspaper.
National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia owns 64.7 percent of Turkiye Finans, Turkish Boydak Group 21.6 percent and Yildiz Group 13.7 percent.  (source)

FINANCE - ECONOMY - OIC - Shift in Trade Axis Starts Bearing Fruits

turkishweekly.net - Turkish government’s economic and political approach to the Muslim world in recent years, once triggered heated arguments discussing the axis of the country’s trade and politics shifting from West to East, today leads to become “one of the most promising new economic axes in the world,” according to a recent report by National Commercial Bank (NCB).

Overall Turkish-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) trade rose more than tenfold from $1.5 billion in 1999 to $16.1 billion in 2008, according to the report by Saudi Arabia’s largest lender which also owns controlling shares in Türkiye Finans in Turkey. (source)

RATINGS - Fitch rates Turkiye Finans 'BBB-'; stable outlook

(The following statement was released by the rating agency)

Dec 15 - Fitch Ratings has assigned Turkey-based Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi A.S. (Turkiye Finans) a Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BBB-' and a Viability Rating of 'bb-'. A full list of rating actions is at the end of this comment.  (source)

FINANCE - BIBD provides Murabaha financing to Turkish firm

bt.com.bn - BANK Islam Brunei Darussalam Berhad (BIBD) will be providing financing of US$75,000,000 ($97,500,000) to Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi (TKFB) AS under the bank's Murabaha Financing Facility.

BIBD, one of Brunei's largest financial institutions, said the financing facility will be for five years and will provide funding for small and medium enterprises (SME) in Turkey. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Turkey’s Tax Change Paves Way for Sukuk Sales: Islamic Finance

Islamic bond sales from Turkey are picking up pace after the government changed its tax law to apply the same rates to sukuk as non-Islamic debt.

Two banks, Asya Katilim Bankasi AS (ASYAB) and Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi AS (ALBRK), plan to sell as much as $500 million in Shariah-compliant debt after Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi AS, a unit of Kuwait Finance House (KFIN) KSC, offered $350 million of five- year sukuk Oct. 20. (source)

ARTICLES - Forbidden fruit: Turkey’s tempting Islamic banking sector

IFN.COM - Cover Story - 29-Aug-2011 - Volume8.Issue34

Forbidden fruit: Turkey’s tempting Islamic banking sector economic powerhouse

Turkey has been one of the few economic success stories emerging from the recession, with the highest economic growth rate in the world (11%) in Q1 2011. Despite a dip in 2008 with GDP contracting 14.6%, the economy rapidly returned to growth and GDP grew by 8% in 2010 with a 5% expansion predicted for 2011. Turkish banks were largely unaffected by the global financial crisis, with limited exposure to toxic securities and high retail deposit levels providing a liquidity buffer. The regulator maintains firm control with a focus on preventing excessive credit growth and a ban on foreign currency retail lending, meaning that banks have experienced little funding stress.  Fitch Ratings recently changed Turkey’s ‘BB+’ sovereign rating outlook from stable to positive suggesting that a future upgrade could be on the cards, which will only enhance Turkey’s attractiveness to foreign investors. (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Market Review

BLOOMBERG.COM - TURKIYE FINANS KATILIM BANKASI AS: The Turkish bank owned by the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia plans to sell at least $300 million of Islamic bonds this year, chief executive Yunus Nacar said. Turkiye Finans will sell the securities in the second half, Nacar said.

KUVEYT TURK KATILIM BANKASI AS: The Turkish unit of Kuwait Finance House (KFIN) KSC plans to sell five-year sukuk, Ufuk Uyan, the bank’s CEO said, without elaborating on when the offering will take place. Uyan said in August 2010 the Istanbul-based lender would sell more than $100 million of sukuk in 2012. 

ALBARAKA TURK KATILIM BANKASI AS (ALBRK): The Istanbul-based lender hired banks to sell $180 million of sukuk outside Turkey, CEO Fahrettin Yahsi said in an interview. Islamic banks in Turkey may sell as much as $1 billion of sukuk this year, Yahsi told Bloomberg HT television May 30.  

... (source)

INVESTMENT - NCB: the public and private sectors' projects in the Kingdom provide opportunities for both national and foreign companies (NCB - Turkiye Finans)

It was recently mentioned in the news and attributed to the National Commercial Bank that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plans to invest 600 billion dollars in Turkey over the next twenty years. 

To rectify this, the figure cited represents the total size of projects to be implemented in the Kingdom in the coming years by both the public and private sectors. (full story)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Turkish Islamic banks plan to sell bonds

Türkiye Finans, led by Yunus Nacar, plans to sell at least $300 million in Islamic bonds this year. 
 

Turkey’s Islamic banks are planning sukuk sales to take advantage of both the lowest borrowing costs in more than five years and the rising demand for the country’s securities.

Türkiye Finans, Kuveyt Türk and Albaraka Türk, all at least part-owned by Persian Gulf lenders, said they plan to offer Islamic bonds this year. (full story)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Turkiye Finans enters into USD 300 mln Murabaha Syndicated Loan

Specially aimed towards an SME program, Turkiye Finans signed off a one year USD 300 mln Muarabaha Syndicated Loan, arranged by Citibank with 20 underlying banks.

From Brunei Bank Islam and from Malaysia Malayab Bank are reported to have participated.  It is the first syndicated Murabaha in Turkey where we have seen a Southeast Asian participation.  Other participating banks were amongst others Deutsche Bank (GER), Standard Chartered (UK), IDB and NCB (KSA). (full story)

CAPITAL MARKETS - Turkish Parliament passes tax neutrality law for Sukuk Al-Ijara

Almost unnoticed, the Turkish National Assembly in Ankara passed the Finance Bill 2011 in February 2011 which includes tax neutrality measures for Sukuk Al-Ijara (leasing certificates) thus paving the way for a spate of corporate Sukuk issuances in the country.

Murat Haholu, head of the Surveillance Group, Corporate Finance Department, Capital Markets Board of Turkey, confirmed that the tax neutrality measures for the Sukuk Al-Ijara were published in the Official Gazette at the end of February 2011, which he stressed is an important development in the participation banking sector in the country. (source)