Foreign interest in Coca Cola İçecek rises

Foreigners’ share of Coca Cola İçecek in the Istanbul Stock Exchange, or IMKB, of which foreigners own 65 percent, rose to 92.2 percent in July from 89.9 percent in the beginning of year.

Garanti Bank ranked second for companies whose shares were attractive to foreigners. Currently, foreigners hold 88.5 percent of Garanti shares. Foreign ownership at the bank has increased 6.7 percent since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, foreign interest in Turkcell shares dropped 1.7 percent since the beginning of the year to 88.1 percent.

Foreign share in 51 companies’ shares trading at the IMKB declined, while foreign share in 47 companies’ shares increased. The biggest foreign share increase was experienced in Vakıfbank, Turkey's third-biggest state-run bank. Foreign share, which used to stand at 51.8 percent at the end of 2008, rose to 82.3 by July. The increase totaled 30 percentage points in seven months. Foreign shares in Tofaş, the Turkish manufacturer of cars for Fiat SpA, also rose 12 percentage points to 66.3 percent. Foreign shares in Türk Telekom, Turkey's main fixed-line phone company, also increased 9.8 percentage points to 59.2 percent.

Trabzonspor shares saw the biggest foreign departure. Some 67.3 percent of Trabzonspor shares trading at the IMKB were owned by foreigners at the beginning of the year. That figure declined by 31 percentage points to 36.1 percent. Foreigners pulled away from Sabancı Holding as well. Foreign share in Sabancı shares trading at the IMKB dropped by 25.9 percentage points to 41.9 percent.