Turkish biscuit giant Ulker Biscuvi Sanayi AS will sell its 10.5% stake in Turkish supermarket chain BIM Birlesik Magazlar for TRY774.5m (US$507.8m), the company announced in a disclosure to the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
According to the disclosure Ulker will make a profit of TRY614m on the sale, which will be made via the stock market and will use the income to fund new investments.
BIM is 38.32% owned by four individual investors, with 60% of company stock traded on the Istanbul exchange. The company operates 2,951 stores across Turkey and in 2010 reported profits of TRY245m on sales of TRY6.57bn.