- ISTANBUL: General Electric Co.
- (GE) will sell its $3.3 billion stake in Turkey’s Garanti Bank, (GARAN.IS) GE Money sources said on Thursday, a move which could offer a rare chance to buy into Turkey’s resilient bank sector.
GE has a 20.85 percent stake in Garanti, the most actively traded stock on the bourse and Turkey’s largest listed lender by market value.
Foreign investors like the bank because it is around 50 percent publicly-owned in a country where other banks are either run by families or the state.
“GE Money is selling its stake in Garanti Bank in line with its global reduction strategy,” a GE Money source said.
GE, the US’s largest conglomerate, has been trying to stabilize itself after posting eight straight quarters of falling profit amidst the global downturn and has been scaling back its hefty GE Capital finance arm.