Dexia’s Turkey sale

DEXIA, the Belgium-based financial services group, will not rush into a sale of its insurance unit in Turkey, according to group chief executive, Pierre Mariani. In an interview with French daily Les Echos, Mariani said the business in Turkey has attracted “many investors”, but its value is constantly on the rise owing to the new clients it gains. As a result, Dexia will wait to get the highest possible value as the deadline for the Turkish unit sale expires in 2012. The European Commission imposed certain conditions on Dexia, including the divestment of its public financing operations in Italy, Spain and Slovakia, as well as its insurance business in Turkey, in exchange for the €6.4bn ($7.8bn) bailout it received from Belgium, France and Luxembourg in September 2008.