Turkish Side Galatasaray Planning Share Sale Of 14% Of Club For Members

Galatasaray Sports Club General Secretary Ebru Koksal said it is discussing a share sale of about 14% of the Turkish football team to 15,000 members to "increase their involvement," according to Alex Duff of BLOOMBERG. The shares "rose the most in 16 months." Koksal said that the sale would increase the team's "free float" to 45%, raising as much as $25M at the current market price. She said Galatasaray, with debt of $140.8M, "could use the sale" to fund football operations or pay down debt. Koksal: "The debt isn't a pressing issue. It's not as though we are defaulting." The shares rose 5.4% to 18.75 liras at the close in Istanbul, after gaining as much as 7.6%, the most since Oct. '13 (BLOOMBERG, 2/12).