Russian banking giant Sberbank is considering selling off its Turkish subsidiary Denizbank, a Reuters report said Monday.
Citing five unnamed sources, the report stated that some banks from the Gulf region, namely from Bahrain, Qatar and Dubai, as well as China are interested in the bank.
Denizbank said in a statement Tuesday that talks between its main shareholder Sberbank of Russia and Dubai's Emirates NBD have entered strategic talks over the potential sale of the Turkish lender were in the preliminary stages, and it was not certain how the process would end.
Sberbank recently announced it routinely evaluates potential opportunities in a variety of markets and will not make a further statement unless there is an important development, the Turkish lender added.
Established in 1938 as a state lender for the shipping industry, Denizbank was acquired in 1997 by Turkish Zorlu holding, which then sold it to Belgian Dexia in 2006.
As Dexia suffered greatly in the 2008 financial crisis and terminated its operations in the upcoming period, the bank was sold to Sberbank in 2012 for $3.5 billion. Sberbank currently owns 99.9 percent of Denizbank.
The bank also acquired Citibank's personal banking division in 2003.
As of Sep. 2017, the bank has 14,773 employees and 740 branches throughout Turkey.
The bank currently ranks ninth (sixth in terms of private banks) in terms of total assets in Turkey.
