After the transfer of 58.45 percent of its shares to the Turkish Treasury, Vakıfbank said Monday that it would not change its status as a state bank or its strategy and business plan.

A decree published in the Official Gazette on Sunday authorized the transfer of 58.45 percent of Vakıfbank shares to the Treasury, the majority stock currently held by the General Directorate of Foundations - 43.00 percent Group A shares and 15.51 percent Group B shares.

Shareholders that hold Group D shares that are listed on the Istanbul stock exchange, which corresponds to 25.22 percent of the bank's capital, will not be subject to any change with the decree, the bank said in a statement.

The remaining shareholders holding Group B and C shares will have the option to ask for transfer of their shares to the treasury, the bank said.

The Council of Ministers will decide on the per-share price of the transaction by taking into account three different valuation reports of the stake, the decree said.
The amount will be paid by the issuance of five sukuks - interest-free Islamic bonds.


Vakıfbank, the seventh-largest listed lender in Turkey, posted net profit of 700.7 million lira ($183.77 million) in the third quarter, down 14 percent from a year earlier, according to its latest financial statements.

The stake would be worth around $2.4 billion, given Vakıfbank's current trading price, according to Thomson Reuters data. In May, unlisted Islamic lender Vakıf Katılım's Chairman Öztürk Oran, who was recently elected Chairman of Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, told reporters that the government was considering transferring a 58.5 percent stake in Vakıfbank to the Treasury and using the proceeds to strengthen his bank's capital as part of Ankara's push to promote Islamic finance.

After the news on the transfer of shares hit the wires, Vakıfbank shares traded on Borsa Istanbul increased by 2.84 percent in the morning session and the banking index also rose 0.88 percent.