Capital Markets Board eases barrier to go public


In a move to incentivize the Initial Public Offering (IPO), the Capital Markets' Board of Turkey (SPK) made a 50-percent discount on fees paid to the SPK Council, which are among the costs incurred by firms going public for the first time.According to the announcement made via the official website of the SPK, the council took the decision with the aim of ensuring that the capital markets function and develop in a more reliable, efficient, stable, fair and competitive environment as well as increasing the base of investors, protecting rights and benefits and facilitating the firms' access to sources of funding.The principle decision is taken to be valid for firms issuing an IPO or Seasoned Equity Offering (SEO), as well as the changing of a publicly held cooperation into investment trusts or the termination of investment trusts. While IPOs see a 50 percent discount, other types will receive different discounts according to size. In Turkey, for a firm to go public, there are some legal steps that must be taken, including paying fees to the SPK Council which includes 0.2 percent of, at least, the nominal value of the shares to be sold, prior to approval of the registration statement, according to information retrieved from Borsa Istanbul's website.