Citigroup to sell stake in Akbank

Turkish lender Akbank said Citigroup, which has a 20 per cent stake in the bank, has started selling a 10.1 per cent stake.  “No investor will be allowed to buy more than a five per cent stake,” Akbank said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange. The bank said Citigroup would hold the remaining 9.9 per cent stake for three years. It bought into Akbank in January 2007.  Citigroup is selling 404 million shares in Akbank via an accelerated offering, a source close to the deal said. “We deem that this transaction will exert further pressure on the market due to the enormous size of the offering. At the low end of the offering price range, Akbank’s upside potential to our target will be around 20-25 per cent. Negative,” wrote Bulent Sengonul, research manager at Is Investment. Citi is offering the shares at 5.20 to 5.50 lira each, the source added, which represents a discount of between 5.2 and 10.3 per cent to Akbank’s closing share price of 5.8 lira. At the top of that guidance range the sale would raise 2.22 billion lira ($1.2 billion) for Citi. “Possible buyers are seen as local or foreign investment funds, pensions funds, investment joint-ventures,” Akbank said. By / Gulf Today