Turkey's wealth fund to become shareholder in local EV maker TOGG, Vestel and Anadolu to exit
EXCLUSIVE-Turkey's wealth fund to become shareholder in local EV maker TOGG, Vestel and Anadolu to exit Adds stock moves in paragraph 4
By Ebru Tuncay and Can Sezer
ISTANBUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Turkey's sovereign wealth fund TVF is set to become a shareholder in Turkish electric vehicle maker TOGG, as Vestel Elektronik VESTL.IS and Anadolu Group Holding AGHOL.IS sell their stakes, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Vestel Elektronik, Anadolu Group Holding, Turkcell TCELL.IS, and BMC Otomotiv currently each hold 23% stakes in TOGG. The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) owns the remaining 8%.
Two of the sources said that Turkcell and TVF would buy Vestel and Anadolu Group's stakes but did not provide details on the value of the 46% stake sale. Discussions are ongoing, and a final agreement is expected soon, the sources said.
Shares in Vestel Elektronik rose 6.5% and Anadolu Holding was up 5.5% after the news emerged, while Turkcell shares dropped 5.0%. Istanbul's main index .XU100 was 1.26% lower.
TVF, Anadolu Group Holding and Vestel Elektronik declined to comment. Turkcell and TOGG did not respond to requests for comment.
TOGG was founded eight years ago by its current shareholders after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called for the production of a fully locally funded passenger car.
TOGG is not publicly listed but its shareholders’ financial statements show that its losses, which amounted to at least several billion lira last year, narrowed significantly in the first six months of this year.
The carmaker sold 39,020 vehicles domestically last year and its sales in the first seven months of this year rose 30% year-on-year to 25,848 units, data from the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD) shows.
Industry sources say that, despite benefiting from tax breaks and incentives, any carmaker is likely to struggle to achieve profitability until production reaches well into a hundred thousand units per year.
(Reporting by Ebru Tuncay, Can Sezer, Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Daren Butler, Susan Fenton and Louise Heavens)
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