BC Partners Plan to Sell Turkish Grocery Store Chain Shares

BC Partners seeks buyers for Turkish grocery chain shares

BC Partners Holdings, a London-based private equity firm, plans to sell as many as 31 million shares of grocer Migros, or 17.4 percent of the Turkey-based company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co. were hired Wednesday to find potential buyers for 26 million shares with the option to purchase 5 million more, Migros Ticaret said

in a filing with the Istanbul Stock Exchange, or ISE, on Thursday. The stake won’t be sold on the exchange and the sale price will be set according to demand, the statement said.

Migros was unchanged at 35.1 liras on the bourse Wednesday. The share has risen 19 percent this year, beating the main ISE National 100 index’s 4 percent advance.

Migros traded at 19.8 liras per share when BC Partners announced it was buying a 51 percent stake on Feb. 14, 2008 for $1.7 billion. It raised its stake to 98 percent by offering to buy out minority shareholders at 21.95 liras a share.

BC Partners owns Migros via unit MH Perakendecilik.
April 7, 2011
SOURCE: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS