Turkish lender Sekerbank grows with Kazakh partner

Hurriyet Daily News - Sekerbank, the Turkish lender that sold a 33.98 percent stake to Kazakhstan's Bank TuranAlem, or BTA Securities JSC in 2007, is raising its capital from TRY 400 million to TRY 500 million. The Turkish lender’s rights issues following the arrival of its Kazakh partner will total TRY 375 million, or 300 percent. Sekerbank will finance small commercial and agricultural enterprises with the funds attained by the capital increase, said Managing Director Meric Ulusahin. "We have branches even in places where no other banks exist. We aim to become the leader in financing small enterprises with our power, particularly in Anatolia and our robust financial structure." The volume of Sekerbank’s assets, which stood at TRY 4 billion at the end of 2006, boomed swiftly following the partnership with TuranAlem, and reached TRY 8.14 billion as of the end of September.