Turkish Islamic lender Albaraka Turk expects to raise $150-170 million from its initial public offering of just over 20 per cent of the bank, General Manager Adnan Buyukdeniz said.

Bids for the IPO are being collected between today and Friday and it has set a price range of 3.6 lira ($2.65) to 4.1 lira per share.

Albaraka is the smallest of the Turkish Islamic banks with a market share of just under 20 per cent and is controlled by Bahrain-based Albaraka Banking Group, which launched its own IPO last year.

Buyukdeniz said the funds raised from the offering will be used to strengthen the bank's capital structure and increase its loan volume.

He said the bank's capital adequacy ratio would rise to 23 per cent after the offering from some 15 to 16 per cent currently.

The Islamic banking sector, which does not charge interest in line with Sharia law, is in focus in Turkey with sector leader Turkiye Finans looking for a strategic partner.

The listing of rival Bank Asya was heavily oversubscribed in May last year. Its shares have doubled since then and analysts say high growth coming from a low base in mainly Muslim Turkey makes the sector attractive.

Albaraka Turk has paid-up capital of 215 million lira, which will rise to 269.5 million after the issue of the nominal 54.5 million lira in shares.

The offering will amount to 20.22 per cent of the bank, or 20.57 per cent if a greenshoe option is exercised. More than 63 per cent of the offering will be allotted to foreign institutional investors and 37 per cent to domestic investors. Albaraka mandated Finans Invest for the deal and 43 brokers are taking part. TradeArabia News Service