[Last updated: 1 January 2024, unless otherwise noted]

Türkiye has been of increasing interest to foreign investors over the past several years. Investment in Türkiye has seen enormous growth in terms of both the volume of transactions and deal size. Turkish capital markets have similarly grown, with the largest IPOs in Turkish history taking place between 2010 and 2023. Borsa İstanbul A.Ş. (Borsa İstanbul) (formerly, the Istanbul Stock Exchange) witnessed record high numbers of applications for IPOs in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and in each of these three years, there was at least one IPO per week.

The Capital Markets Law No. 6362 (the Capital Markets Law) entered into force on 30 December 2012, and following this major development, Istanbul Stock Exchange was replaced by Borsa Istanbul in April 2013. Borsa Istanbul began operations on 5 April 2013. Borsa Istanbul is the sole exchange entity of Türkiye, combining the former Istanbul Stock Exchange, the Istanbul Gold Exchange and the Derivatives Exchange of Türkiye. As a self-regulatory entity, Borsa Istanbul is currently the only stock exchange in Türkiye. However, Borsa Istanbul does not enjoy any monopoly.

Borsa Istanbul has four markets:

• Equity Market. Equities of companies from various sectors, pre-emptive rights, exchange-traded funds, warrants and certificates, commodity certificates, real estate certificates, participation certificates of venture capital investment funds and real estate investment funds are traded on the Equity Market. The Equity Market is divided into several sub-markets. Companies that satisfy Borsa Istanbul's listing requirements, meet its market evaluation criteria and have a market value of shares in free float equal to or greater than TRY1 billion (approximately US$33.9 million) are traded on the BIST Star Market, which is the main sub-market of Borsa Istanbul. Companies with a market value of shares in free float between TYR250 million to TRY1 billion (approximately US$8.48 million to US$33.9 million) are traded on the BIST Main Market. Other Borsa Istanbul markets include the BIST Sub-Market, Watchlist Market, Structured Products and Funds Market, Commodity Certificates Market, Venture Capital Market and Pre-Market Trading Platform. Foreign securities and depositary receipts that have been approved by the CMB are traded on the Equity Market based on the type of issuance.
• Debt Securities Market. Debt securities, securitized assets, income backed debt securities, lease certificates, liquidity bills issued by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye and other securities which are approved by Borsa Istanbul are traded on the Debt Securities Market. The Debt Securities Market consists of the Outright Purchases and Sales Market, where the secondary market transactions of debt securities are conducted; the Offering Market for Qualified Investors, where the capital market instruments are issued to qualified investors, the Repo-Reverse Repo Market, where repo-reverse repo transactions are conducted; the Repo Market for Specified Securities, where repo-reverse repo transactions with specified debt securities are conducted; the Equity Repo Market, where repo-reverse repo transactions are carried out on the shares of the companies that are included in the BIST 50 Index, and the International Bonds Market, where foreign debt instruments issued by the Turkish Undersecretariat of Treasury and listed on Borsa Istanbul are conducted. There is also the Committed Transactions Market where same day or forward value date buy-sell transactions are realized between the sellerwith a commitment to repurchase a predetermined security and the buyer with a commitment to resell that security for Turkish Lira denominated public sector lease certificates, and the Watchlist Market where capital market instruments that were previously traded on the Outright Purchases and Sales Market and moved to be traded on the Watchlist Market pursuant to the Listing Regulations are traded.
• Derivatives Market. The Derivatives Market is designed for trading futures and options contracts based on economic or financial indicators and capital market instruments, as well as other derivative products in an electronic environment. Orders in the Derivatives Market can be placed on Main Board, Negotiated Deals Board, or Advertising Board.
• Precious Metals and Diamond Market. Precious metals and diamonds are traded on the Precious Metals and Diamond Market. The Precious Metals and Diamond Market was established upon the merger of the Istanbul Gold Exchange into Borsa Istanbul.

As of 1 January 2024, shares of 539 companies with a combined market capitalization of TRY10 trillion (approximately US$339 billion), were listed and traded on the Equity Market. The number of companies listed on the Equity Market has fluctuated between 322 and 539 since 2009. The total market capitalization has increased from TRY351 billion to TRY10 trillion (approximately US$11.90 billion to US$339 billion) since 2009.

The Equity Market does not specialize in, or encourage listings by, any particular type of company. Rather, it encourages any company meeting its listing requirements to list on Borsa Istanbul. As of 1 January 2024, the Equity Market had listed companies active in agriculture, forestry and fishing, banking, mining and quarrying, construction and public works, education and health, technology, transportation, storage and telecommunication professional, scientific and technical activities, administrative and support service activities, real estate, information and communication, energy, manufacturing, financial services, operational leasing, defense industry, insurance, tourism and hospitality, and wholesale and retail businesses, with the majority active in manufacturing, real estate, energy and financial services.

This summary focuses on the BIST Star Market (Borsa Istanbul's main operations sub-market) organized under the Equity Market.

Any proposed listing would be subject to approvals from the Borsa Istanbul and the CMB, which are the regulatory and supervisory authorities for the securities markets in Türkiye.