Turkish media report that National Bank of Greece, which owns Finansbank in Turkey, has bought one of Istanbul‘s tallest skyscrapers, the 40-story ”Crystal Tower”, for 303 million dollars.
The 170-meter Crystal Tower was sold to the National Bank by Koru Property Investments, a subsidiary of Soyak Group in Turkey. The lavish building, located in Levent district, has floorspace totalling 60,000 square meters, and its sale is one of the largest commercial real estate market transactions in Turkey in recent years. It is expected that the National Bank of Greece, will use the “Crystal Tower” as the new headquarters for its subsidiary in Turkey, Finansbank.
Data released by National Bank show its operations in Greece generate 50% of its pretax pre-provision profits, complemented by 35% from Turkey and 15% from southeastern Europe. As of 2012, Soyak Group held assets in Turkey in the fields of real estate, energy, cement and casting, amounted to 1.58 million dollars.