(Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, known as TWF, is considering a debut sukuk sale, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The fund held talks with investment banks to explore the timing and size of the issuance, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans haven’t been made public. The fund is looking at selling $500 million in sukuk with a maturity of 5 years, they said.
The wealth fund didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the potential sale.
Earlier this year, TWF notched up $7 billion in orders for its $500 million debut dollar-denominated bond deal. The 5-year dollar bonds were priced at 8.375%.
The government established the sovereign fund in 2016 and mandated it to play a leading role in making investments that are too big for the private sector. It holds a number of assets taken over from Turkey’s Treasury, including stakes in state lenders Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS and TC Ziraat Bankasi AS. It also owns stakes in Turkish Airlines, the country’s biggest telecommunications firm, and the local stock exchange.
The wealth fund organized in-person meetings with fixed-income investors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on Sept. 12-13 as part of a non-deal roadshow, a person familiar told Bloomberg earlier this week.
As Turkey was able to sell debt at more favorable yields compared with last year, the government shelved an $8.5 billion sukuk deal with the UAE in February.
(Updates with background on Turkey oversas borrowing in last paragraph.)
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