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said it increased its stake in Turkish Airlines to 5.06% from 4.96%.
On August 23, the US-based investment giant said its stake in Turkish Airlines had declined to 4.96% from 5.24%.
BlackRock was among the investment funds that were present at a meeting held on November 15 in London between Istanbul mayor and Erdogan administration opponent Ekrem Imamoglu and finance industry representatives. Imamoglu has said he is having problems securing financing for the Istanbul municipality from government-owned banks.
On June 25, BlackRock said it had increased its stake in Turkish gold miner Koza Altin to 5.01% from 4.94%.
In February 2018, it was the top buyer in largest Turkish electricity distributor Enerjisa Enerji’s initial public offering (IPO).
BlackRock also has stakes in state-controlled Halkbank and real estate investment trust Emlak Konut REIT.
It is at the same time the biggest single holder of Turkish government bonds.
Foreign holdings rise. Foreigners’ holdings of Turkish Airlines’ free-float shares rose to 44.98% as of November 22 from 35.67% on October 22 but compared lower than the 65.23% recorded at end-2018, according to an Is Invest daily bulletin.
Foreign holdings figures may include Turks that trade via foreign brokerage houses. These accounts, whether in reality representing foreign or Turk investors, generally perform high volume transactions that impact headline share prices.
Reuters reported on October 18 that Turkish Airlines had mandated lenders for eurobonds or Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates. However, nothing has been heard of the move since then.
In the first 10 months of 2019, THY saw a 1.6% y/y decline in total passenger traffic to 63mn with domestic passengers falling 7.5% y/y to 26mn.
In January-October, THY carried 37mn international passengers, translating to a 3.1% increase on an annual basis.
THY flew to 316 destinations as of end-October, up from 304 destinations a year ago. It has a fleet of 346 aircraft.
In January-September, Turkish Airlines’ net profit declined by 37% y/y to TRY2.59bn.
Shares in Turkish Airlines have been among the most active stocks on the Borsa Istanbul since a short-selling ban on leading banking shares, effective since October 16, was introduced, hitting transaction volumes in big Turkish bank stocks.
SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkey’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) and Germany’s Lufthansa, has exercised options for 10 additional Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes, Boeing announced on November 18 at the Dubai Airshow. The purchase, valued at $1.2bn according to list prices, adds to a previous SunExpress order for 32 MAX airplanes.
The SunExpress-Boeing deal came less than a week after Erdogan’s visit to the US to deal with tensions between Turkey and its Nato ally. At the White House, Erdogan met with President Donald Trump and leading
95 TURKEY Country Report December 2019 www.intellinews.com
