The first legislation to issue sovereign Sukuk certificates has been adopted. The draft law was enacted just before the end of the current legislative year. Law No. 6327 was enacted by parliament on the 13th June 2012 and the law was published in the Official Gazette on the 29th June 2012.
Article 32 of the Law No. 6327 has amended the Law No. 4749 on the public finance and debt management and added the new article 7/A (New Article) which regulates the sovereign Sukuk issuances.
The New Article regulates publishing lease certificates of public estates and public assets covering the right of use, operating rights, right of usufruct and other intangible rights.
According to the New Article, the public assets, subject to lease certificates, will be used by the related institutions even after the issuance.
Therefore maintenance, repairs, management, construction and other similar works shall be carried out and expenses shall be borne by these institutions.
The lease certificates can be pledged as securities in accordance with the Public Procurement Law No. 4734; namely the certificates shall be accepted as securities in the scope of the Law No. 4734. Furthermore, the lease certificates are subjected to the same procedures and principles as the other instruments issued by the under secretariat of the treasury in terms of the law on the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey No. 1211 and capital markets regulations.
According to the New Article’s second paragraph; the lease certificate issuances and any transactions carried out as a part of the domestic and international public debt as well as cash management are exempted from the Public Procurement Law and State Procurement Law No. 2886.
Real estate sales to foreigners reach US$1.1 billion in a month
Turkey’s fast growing real estate sector is enjoying an increase of foreign buyers after the law on the Amendment of Land Registry Law and Cadastre Law was enacted on the 3rd May 2012, which eases real estate sales to non-Turkish citizens.
After the amendment, foreign real estate acquisitions in Turkey reached US$1.1 billion: four times the total number of real estate purchases completed by foreigners in 2011. Real estate sales to foreigners were only US$114 million in the January-April 2012 period.
Serdar Inan, the chairman of İnanlar İnşaat, stated that Turkey has an annual potential to sell US$30-40 billion-worth of real estate to foreigners and that he believes the US$1.1 billion figure is based on expectations regarding the amendment of the Land Registry Law and Cadastre Law.
Nizamettin Asa, the co-president of Istanbul Realtors Chamber, also believes that the sales are due to expectations regarding the reciprocity clause and that there are currently close to 300,000 potential Russian and Arab buyers.
Lebanese bank to double investment in Turkey
Hüseyin Özkaya the general manager of Odea Bank’s stated that Odea Bank, the Turkish unit of the Lebanese Bank Audi, will increase its capital from US$300 million to at least US$600 million.
Odea Bank was the first bank to obtain a banking license last year in Turkey after a 12-year period of no banking licence.
The lender could not register the name Bank Audi as it conflicts with the name of the German auto maker.
Ali Ceylan is a partner at Baspinar & Partners Law Firm. He can be contacted at
[email protected]
.