London IPO of soda ash firm could net Turkish billionaire’s family £650m

theguardian.com:

The family of a Turkish billionaire who owns a football stadium named after the country’s recently re-elected authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, could be in line for £650m by floating an industrial company in London.

The family of Turgay Ciner, 67, has built up an empire worth an estimated $1.6bn (£1.3bn) that spans mining, chemicals, shipping, media and football. He controls WE Soda, which announced plans on Wednesday for an initial public offering (IPO) on the London stock market that is expected to value the company at up to $8bn.

The flotation of 10% of the shares in WE Soda, the world’s largest producer of natural soda ash, which is used in glass manufacturing and photovoltaic glass for solar panels, could generate $800m for the family’s Ciner Group conglomerate. The company said it would use the proceeds of the float to pay down debts against other businesses in the group.

The rare London IPO could be so large that WE Soda – which is chaired by Ciner’s wife, Didem – may be propelled into the FTSE 100 index of the UK’s largest companies.

Proceeds raised in London IPOs fell 90% last year as the invasion of Ukraine and gloomy global economic conditions led to volatile stock markets, according to research by the consultancy EY.

The government is attempting to make London a more attractive place for international companies to list their stock, after a string of businesses opted to float overseas, frequently in the US.

Susannah Streeter, the head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The stock market launch of the industrial materials maker will be the FTSE’s first major IPO this year, but although this is a much-needed drop in a parched landscape, it’s still unlikely to lead to a flood of immediate