2,222 Officials Participated in the Initial Public Offering Campaign Istanbul Summit

 

The Initial Public Offering Campaign Istanbul Summit brought together the top executives of companies that have a potential to go public, with the specialists and institutions operating at all stages of the IPO process, at Haliç Congress Center on May 6-7. The Summit attracted great attention, with the participation of the representatives of 514 companies, 49 brokerage houses, 25 legal consultancy firms, 27 independent audit companies, 69 fund managers, 22 associations and capital markets institutions, 50 consultancy firms, and 17 foreign fund managers.

 

The opening speeches of the Summit were delivered by the Chairmen of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB), Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), Association of Capital Market Intermediary Institutions of Turkey (TSPAKB) and Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI). Mr. Hüseyin ERKAN, ISE Chairman & CEO, touched upon the benefits of public offering for companies, and said, “Currently, the market capitalization of the publicly traded companies is equal to 32 per cent of the Turkish Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while this ratio is around 80-90 per cent in emerging markets. This campaign, aimed at encouraging public offerings, is actually for carrying Turkey to the world average levels. Transparency leads to confidence and stability. We want our companies to grow and survive to the following generations”.

 

In his keynote speech, Prof. Dr. Vedat AKGIRAY, Chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, said “Turkey is large enough to accommodate a stock exchange of three times the current size of the Istanbul Stock Exchange”.

 

 

Mr. Nevzat ÖZTANGUT, Chairman of the Association of Capital Market Intermediary Institutions of Turkey (TSPAKB), drew attention to the low demand for equity by local investors and said that 75 per cent of the individual savings are allocated to bank deposits and foreign currency while merely 8 per cent of savings go to equity investments. Mr. ÖZTANGUT underlined the fact that the ISE has markets not for large scale companies only, but for Small and Medium Sized Companies (SMEs) as well.

 

Mr. Tan1l KÜÇÜK, Chairman of Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, said, “Initial public offering and capital markets must be encouraged in order to ensure the widening of the investor base, to allow access by companies to low-cost financing, to increase investment and employment, and to accelerate growth”.

 

Mr. M. Rifat HISARCIKLIO LU, Chairman of TOBB, underlined the importance of institutionalization, and said, “It is a shame that only 300 of a total of 1 million Turkish companies are publicly traded. We do not have any companies with a history of a century yet. Today, institutionalization is a must. Public offering is an important mechanism for institutionalization and transition to the fully registered economy that we need. Public offering is a very effective way for converting national assets to capital. With public offering, everybody wins: the savers, the companies, and the country”.

 

On the last day of the Summit, Mr. Hüseyin ERKAN, the ISE Chairman & CEO, gave information about the ISE Emerging Companies Markets, and emphasized that the simplification of the ISE and CMB legislation has facilitated public offering for SMEs with a high growth potential.

 

Prof. Dr. Vedat AKGIRAY, Chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, said the Summit would provide a benchmark for companies and future events, and added, “We will have a stock exchange with a market capitalization of over US$ 1 trillion in the next 5-10 years”. Prof. AKGIRAY added, “The ISE must grow by three-fold to reach the world average. We see this potential here. If 20 per cent of the participating companies go public, there will be an additional capital of US$ 100 billion, which will draw us closer to the world average, but this is not enough. Our targets must always be higher. In a period of 5 to 10 years, we aim to have a stock exchange of a size equal to 1.5 times of the Turkish GDP. This means a market capitalization of over US$ 1 trillion”.

 

Company officials showed great interest for one-to-one meetings as well as the panels and workshops organized during the Summit. The ISE will continue to organize similar events in various cities of Anatolia within the framework of the initial public offering campaign.