Turkish regulator approves Aviva, Sabanci pension unit partial float

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's capital markets board said late on Thursday it had approved plans by British insurer Aviva Plc and Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding to float a stake in their Turkish joint venture pension unit Avivasa. Aviva and Sabanci said in September they would float up to 20 percent of the pension unit, each selling an equal number of shares in the initial public offering. Aviva holds 49.8 percent in Avivasa, which provides life and pensions products to over two million customers and had a net asset value of $96.4 million (60.3 million pounds) as of June 30, 2014. Sabanci Holding, in a statement in September to the Istanbul stock exchange where it is listed, said it would float 19.7 percent of the insurance holding. In November, Reuters reported that Aviva and Sabanci Holding had mandated Citigroup and HSBC to sell a minority stake in Avivasa in an initial public offering amid Aviva's group-wide restructuring aimed to shed non-core businesses, cut costs and improve profitability. (Reporting by Birsen Altayli; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)