ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) will put Islamic lender Bank Asya out to tender on June 24, a notice in Turkey’s official gazette said Tuesday.
The tender was for the sale of a minimum 183.6 million ‘A’ group shares, amounting to 51 percent of the bank, the notice said.
An estimated price was set at 0.70 lira ($0.23) per share by the fund, the notice said.
The fund said that the bids deadline will be June 23.
On May 29 last year, Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), the country’s banking watchdog, ruled for the complete takeover of all shares of Bank Asya by TMSF.
Bank Asya is a participation bank affiliated with Pennsylvania-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, whom Turkish authorities accuse of leading a clandestine “parallel state” to undermine the Turkish government.
The bank’s shares rose nearly 19 percent after the news to 0.64 Turkish lira and it was trading unchanged at 11.30 a.m. local time [0930GMT].