Raiffeisen attracted by Istanbul bourse

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Austria-based Raiffeisen Investment, a corporate finance advisory firm focusing on emerging European countries, is planning to establish banking operations in Turkey “very soon,” said a top company executive.

“We learn the local culture in every country we enter. We have enough experience now in Turkey by brokering merging and acquisition deals,” said Gerhard Grun, the company board member responsible for operations in Turkey. The company was still in the phase of learning the local culture of Turkey, he the daily Hürriyet.

“Turkey became the second most profitable operation in 2010 after our headquarters in Vienna,” Grun said.

The firm wants to see what it can do in Turkey’s capital market before bringing its banking business to the country, he said. “The Istanbul Stock Exchange [İMKB] is 10 times more powerful than Vienna Stock Exchange. We plan to start our banking operations here [in Turkey] very soon.”