French-Belgian Dexia Buys Turkish Denizbank
By Ibrahim Turkmen, Yahya Cark
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 19 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
zaman.com
Seventy-five percent of Denizbank’s shares were handed over to
European finance giant Dexia for $2.43 billion Wednesday after
necessary permissions had been granted.
Dexia, the new owner of Turkey’s sixth-largest private bank and a
French-Belgian partnered Finance Company, has become a major player
in the Turkey’s banking sector.
Dexia’s President of the Executive Board Axel Miller says that they
were very happy about the latest step they have taken.
Miller said they were working on long-term projects for Turkey,
and claimed that they had made the greatest purchase in Turkey in
recent years.
They had long aspired to enter into the Turkish market, which has
made great progress since the 2001 economic crisis.
"The progress made in economics and politics keeps surprising us,"
Miller remarked.
"Turkey is the fastest growing market and will shortly become a
value for Europe. Looking at projects undertaken here in the last
five years, you can say that leaders have now got the ability to
take consistent and conscious steps. There are also high quality
partnerships in the banking sector. The risk management is taken care
of very well. Equally important, this is not a unilateral action;
there is a fruitful exchange that assists both parties."
Miller said that the major reason behind the acquisition of Denizbank
was its impressive growth rate.
He emphasized the tremendous contributions of the previous owner,
the Zorlu Group, to this high performance, and noted that the bank
had entered the finance sector in 1997 in 81st place, only to rise
to sixth place, with the help of a carefully planned public offering,
in the course of these last nine years.
An organic growth constitutes the foundation of Dexia’s strategy
for Turkey.
The number of the Denizbank branches will reach 435 by 2009 according
to their plan.
What’s more, 3,000 people will have been employed. The new
acquisition’s financial contribution to Dexia in the field of public
and project funding will be 5 percent and it is envisioned that net
income will increase by 20 percent during the 2005-2009 period.
Dexia, a company of French and Belgian origin, stands out as one of
Europe’s greatest with active capital of ~@514 billion.
The bank operates in over 30 countries with 26,000 employees and
will have increased the number of its employees to 33,000 with the
Denizbank purchase.
"The good old days of Central and Eastern Europe are in the past now.
Our population is on a constant decrease, crippling any further
efforts to launch new big projects. So, we had to set sail for new
markets. With its population of 70 million, Turkey attracts all the
firms willing to enlarge," said Miller.
We’re Europeans, Not French or Belgians
Axell Miller noted that they were not a fickle company that breezed
in and out of a market and their projects were long-term ones.
"In five to seven years we will be able to increase our net income
by 13 to 17 percent. We believe that Denizbank will function as an
engine for our entire group."
"We’re neither a French nor Belgian company. We see ourselves as a
European company."
He also noted that their French partners owned a 13 percent stake.
Also touching on tensions between Turkey and France because of the
controversial Armenian genocide bill, Miller emphasized that history
could not be written with laws.
Dexia To Provide Financial Support To Municipalities
The bank will also focus on local administration funding through a
new process called "Municipality Banking."
Axell Miller said that in this field in Turkey was still untouched.
He believes that public funding in Turkey will make great headway,
and said that they were ready to provide support to the government,
local administrations and municipalities in any way possible.