An official gazette announcement yesterday signaled that the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund will auction off Adabank on Feb. 4 after previous auctions yielded no result.

The insurance fund has put an appraisal price of $77.5 million on Adabank, $12.5 million less than the previous appraisal price in 2010. Bidders must submit proposals by Jan. 28 to pass preliminary qualification requirements, and the last day to submit bids is Feb. 3.

The sale of 94.44 percent of Adabank's shares will take place on Feb. 4 in Istanbul.

The Uzan Group's regulator seized Adabank in 2003, and the fund also took control of İmar Bankası and 200 companies of the Uzan family group. The fund had accused the Uzan Group of taking part in a scheme to siphon off millions of dollars from the two financial institutions.

In 2007, the Banking Regulator of Turkey rejected the sale of 99.99 percent of Adabank to the Kuwait-based International Investor Company because of its inadequate financial strength. The banking regulator also rejected the sale of Adabank in 2009 to the Kok Group.

The insurance fund had turned down BankPozitif's offer, owned by Israeli-lender Hapoalim, to buy Adabank at an auction on Nov. 26, 2010, because of its $42 million offer that was only half the appraisal price of $90 million.