Sekerbank is planning investor meetings that could lead to the first publicly issued Turkish covered bond, following the bank’s opening of the Turkish market last year and the closing on Friday of an inaugural deal from Yapi Kredi.

Sekerbank yesterday (Monday) announced that it had mandated Commerzbank and UniCredit – which structured Sekerbank’s SME-backed programme – to organise investor meetings next week. Oya Sari, vice president, structured finance, at Sekerbank, told The Covered Bond Report that the bank will be holding one-on-ones and group meetings in several locations.

Since launching its first covered bond in September 2011, Sekerbank has raised TL640m (Eu278m/$355m) in four issues, according to Sari. Investors have included the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Dutch development agency FMO, Germany agency KfW, and the International Finance Corporation.

Sari said that Sekerbank will test the interest of a wider group of investors during the roadshow with a view to broadening the bank’s investor base. The bank will then decide how to proceed based upon feedback from investors.

The bank has the flexibility to issue in local or international currencies under the terms of its programmes and Sari said that the currency of any subsequent issue would also depend on investors’ preferences.

She said that the bank will be speaking to a combination of covered bond and emerging market investors.

“On the one side, there are those investors who are willing to invest or who have already invested in Turkish paper,” she said, “and on the other side are the covered bond investors. But as this covered bond is a little bit different to a German Pfandbrief, for example, it will probably be a mixture of investors.”

Sekerbank has previously issued senior unsecured debt, although this has been in its local currency and mainly sold to domestic accounts. The bank’s local currency rating is Ba1, by Moody’s, and its covered bonds are rated A3.

Correction: On Friday we incorrectly stated the size of Yapi Kredi’s issue to be Eu300m equivalent. This is the size of the programme.