To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Turkey continues to revel in its status as the poster child in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East for sovereign bond investors, and as such always favours a January foray to the dollar market. This year it has surpassed itself by starting its 2013 borrowing programme in December, when it printed a 4.352% US$1bn 30-year dollar bond to pre-finance its 2013 borrowing plan. That deal reduced its original international funding

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. It has never been easy to be a capital markets banker in Turkey, but rarely has it been this hard. In recent years, the market for IPOs has virtually dried up. Deals do punctuate the market, although they are few and far between: the last significant IPO was retailer Bizim’s US$250m-equivalent January 2011 IPO in the midst of a relative flurry of issuance that was brought to a halt by a sale in another retailer. The US$515m ‘re-IPO’

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery they say, and one country will often emulate another’s perceived success in particular areas. Growing industrial powerhouses like China, for instance, aspire to Germany and Japan’s engineering clout. The process even extends to finding replicas – historic buildings included – of English public schools in the UAE and French chateau in rural China. Financial hubs like London and Wall Street h

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Turkish borrowers secured US$20.2bn of loans in 2012, dipping slightly from a record-high of US$22bn in 2011. “The market is constantly improving in the way that more liquidity seems to be available. We see more names knocking at the door and more banks are open to listen,” one European banker said. The positive state of the market is reflected by the launch of Ojer Telekomunikasyon’s US$4.75bn deal in early March – marking the count

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Credit investors joined with currency managers in Europe, the US and Asia to snap up Eurolira offerings from Akbank, GarantiBank and Russian-owned Sberbank in recent weeks, with Turkey’s strong financial sector driving enthusiasm for coupons around four percentage points higher than the same bonds issued in dollars. Bookrunners reported that aside from the credit risk, a key driver was exposure to the lira, which rose 5.6% against th

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Turkey finalised its adoption of Basel II in July last year, becoming the 22nd of 27 member countries to implement the regulations of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. There were concerns that the country’s 44 banks – three public, 41 private – would all have to sprint, cap-in-hand, to raise capital.  The opposite has in fact been true. When the capital adequacy ratio of the banks was revealed at the end of September, it tu

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. The past 10 years signalled an economic transformation. “Turkey is collecting the fruits of the work it has been doing for at least a decade, and especially since 2008–09, in terms of reducing inflation, implementing fiscal discipline and pushing through reforms,” said Emre Akcakmak, portfolio manager at East Capital. Luck has played its part too. While Turkey has at times been rocked by the financial crisis, it has also benefited fr

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. The Istanbul Stock Exchange is in the midst of great changes. The first step on its journey came with the promotion of the current chairman Ibrahim Turhan to that role at the beginning of 2012. One of his first acts was to communicate his intention to take the 100% state-owned bourse public.  The IPO could take the form of a partial privatisation, though there could also be a primary component to raise funds for capital expenditure.

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Turkey is not just a darling for international bond investors – it is a sought-after location for foreign companies looking to gain a foothold in an economy with the growth profile of an emerging market but the stability of a developed one. The country’s strong economic growth, its high-spending, tech-savvy young population and growing middle class combined with the country’s enviable location as a gateway to the Middle East and Afri

To view the digital version of this report, please <a href="http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?EID=e97bd3b6-dc07-4982-af43-bff85b1c95da" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onkeypress="window.open(this.href);return false;">click here</a>. To purchase printed copies or a PDF of this report, please email gloria.balbastro@thomsonreuters.com Finance minister Mehmet Simsek made the point recently, hailing the achievement of 2.2