ECONOMY

Citigroup eyes Turkey’s Boyner

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish retail group Boyner Holding said yesterday it had an outline agreement to sell stakes in two of the country’s top department store chains to Citigroup Venture Capital International. It had signed a letter of intent to sell 30 percent of its Boyner Department Stores and 50 percent of luxury department store chain Beymen, it said in a statement. No price was given for a deal but Boyner Holding said Boyner Department Stores were worth $160 million and Beymen – which sells high-end branded goods – $290 million. «The deal values the company at $160 million and its market capitalization is $165 million, that’s the main reason,» Oyak analyst Can Oztoprak said of Boyner’s share price fall yesterday. «It will bring relief for Altinyildiz… it’s liquidating assets at close to market value,» he said, noting it had debt of $50 million as of September last year. The move follows Citigroup’s recent purchase of a 20 percent stake in one of Turkey’s leading private banks Akbank. Boyner was set last year to sell a stake to private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co but the investor pulled out in July, shortly after Turkish markets dived.

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