Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Four or five “blue-chip” Turkish companies plan initial public offerings in the first half of 2010 as the economy recovers from the global credit squeeze, said the local head of Credit Suisse Group AG.

“The companies which plan IPOs are from the industrial sector,” Ugur Bayar, chief executive officer of Credit Suisse’s Turkish unit, said in an interview at a private equity investment conference in Istanbul today, without identifying them. “There are clear signs of recovery and an increase in the number of such negotiations in the IPO pipeline.”

Freight transporter Ran Lojistik Hizmetleri AS last month became the first Turkish company to hold a successful IPO since the financial crisis, raising 9.15 million liras ($6 million). Istanbul Stock Exchange chief Huseyin Erkan said on Oct. 19 that 872 of the biggest 1,000 Turkish companies aren’t listed.

Bayar said private equity investors now offer an alternative to IPOs for Turkish companies, and are especially interested in the logistics, health-care and retail industries.

Private equity accounts for about 15 percent of all Turkey’s foreign direct investment, and “it should be more than 30 percent,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Holland in Istanbul at bholland1@bloomberg.net; Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at americ@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 23, 2009 07:56 EST