* Aims to raise $250-300 mln - source
* CEO expects strong interest from foreign investors
ISTANBUL, April 25 (Reuters) - Ronesans Real Estate Investment, which plans to build the tallest tower on the Asian side of Istanbul, will hold an initial public offering (IPO) within one or two weeks, its chief executive officer said.
The offering aims to raise around $250 million to $300 million, a source close to the deal said.
Before taking the Ronesan roadshow abroad, CEO Cenk Arson told a news conference on Monday that the company favoured corporate investors, though it expected high demand from Turkish investors.
"I think 70-80 percent of the offering will be sold to foreign investors and remaining 20-30 percent to domestic investors", Arson said.
Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Garanti Securities are running the offering for Ronesans, which operates shopping malls, hotels and office blocks in Turkey and Russia.
Despite a choppy start to the year for initial public
offerings (IPOs) in Europe, Istanbul has seen some successful
floats including a 400 million lira ($266 million) offering by
cash-and-carry firm Bizim
Ronesans, or Renaissance as it is known in English, had applied to Istanbul Bourse to float 25.06 of its shares.
"Our current balance sheet size is 2.6 billion lira," Arson said.
He said the current estimated value of Ronesan's properties was 2.2 billion lira and the company planned a 700 million euro investment in the next three years.
Ronesans was ranked the second-largest real estate investment trust in Turkey measured by rentals from shopping malls and office blocks, he said.
(Reporting by Evrim Ergin; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Erica Billingham)