By Can Sezer

ISTANBUL, July 1 (Reuters) – Hepsiburada, a top player in Turkey’s fast growing e-commerce sector, lists on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Thursday, raising funds it plans to use to expand at home and in neighbouring countries.

The company priced its shares at $12, the mid-point of its $11-$13 range, with an expected valuation of around $3.9 billion, its founder and chairwoman Hanzade Dogan Boyner said.

“I believe the company will make great strides in the next five and ten years. That’s why I’m not selling any shares on the IPO, and neither are my sisters,” Dogan said in a media briefing prior to the first trade.

The company will raise around a net $470 million, all of which has been allocated to expand in the fast-growing Turkish e-commerce market, Dogan said.

“We will invest the proceeds in our logistics and last-mile delivery services, aiming for the most user-friendly system, giving the customers peace of mind,” she said.

Along with a share sale by existing shareholder Franklin Templeton, the total IPO size was around $740 million.

Hepsiburada is also eyeing expansion outside Turkey, though the focus will be on its core market.

“Keeping in mind our local market’s proximity and our own capabilities, we are looking at the Middle East, North Africa, Balkans and some Eastern European countries,” Dogan said.

Hepsiburada operates not only an online marketplace but also its own logistics network, a last-mile delivery service for groceries, its own online payments system, a travel booking service and an inbound international courier service.

Its gross merchandise value, a benchmark of trade on its marketplace, rocketed 89% to 17 billion lira ($1.96 billion) last year.

Hepsiburada shares will begin trading today on the Nasdaq stock exchange with the ticker.

Dogan and the Dogan family will hold 65.4% and Franklin Templeton’s stake will be reduced to 14.6% after the listing.

($1 = 8.6926 liras) (Reporting by Can Sezer; Editing by Daren Butler and Jan Harvey)

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