Turkish Firms Launch 27.2 Billion Lira Buyback Effort to Counter Borsa Istanbul Sell-Off

Borsa Istanbul share buyback program, Digi Mart USA News (Istanbul, Turkey): Turbulence in investment funds that began in mid-September spread across the entire Borsa Istanbul, triggering a liquidity squeeze and sharp declines in company shares. Driven by rising borrowing costs for brokerage firms and investors, a wave of forced selling pushed prices lower.

In response, 142 companies approved share buyback decisions. According to the report, total funds injected into the market since September 15 exceeded 27.2 billion lira.

However, the intervention was not enough to fully halt the decline in prices, and the BIST Buyback Index remains 11% below its level before the process began.

The largest share of purchases came from a small group of firms. The top eight companies accounted for more than half of all repurchases, with a combined volume exceeding 14.3 billion lira, or 52.6% of total buybacks.

Among them, Turkish Gold Enterprises led with 3.98 billion lira, followed by Margun Enerji with 2.29 billion lira, which is held in the portfolios of funds under liquidation. Turkcell ranked third with 2.11 billion lira, and VakifBank passed the 2 billion lira mark with transactions conducted before September 22.

Garanti BBVA, which announced an 11 billion lira program on November 3, collected 1.2 billion lira in shares over just three trading days, placing it among the top five buyers. Other notable purchasers included Armada Gida with 1.11 billion lira, Ahlatci Dogalgaz with 826.9 million lira and Citlekci with 762.2 million lira.

Despite the heavy intervention, selling pressure could not be broken, particularly in October, when the index decline at one point approached 20%. As conditions softened in November and buying continued, the index recovered 11.22%, making it one of the six fastest-rising indices of the month.

Analysts said the purchases were insufficient to push prices directly higher, but that the message that shares are undervalued has helped preserve investor confidence.