Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) has offered EUR750 million euros (USD856 million) for an 80% stake in ISG, the company that operates Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen, Bloomberg has reported. The secondary airport serving Turkey's largest city is currently wholly-owned by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB).

Both parties refused to comment.

MAHB is a stock-listed company managing most of Malaysia's airports, including Kuala Lumpur International. It was awarded the USD2.2 billion contract for the development and operation of Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen in 2008. It originally held a 20% stake in a consortium with India's GMR Infrastructure and Turkey's Limak Holdings, each holding a 40% stake.

MAHB acquired GMR's stake in 2013 for EUR225 million and Limak's stake in 2014 for EUR285 million.

Earlier this year, MAHB said it was looking to sell shares in ISG, although at that time the Malaysian company was reportedly seeking only a minority partner.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Turkish Airlines is currently the second-largest airline at Sabiha Gökcen, behind LCC rival Pegasus Airlines (PC, Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen). The flag carrier operates 839 weekly departures out of the facility, located on the Asian side of Istanbul, and has a 35% market share by capacity.

Turkish Airlines' Istanbul operations are currently focussed on the city's primary airport, Istanbul Atatürk. It serves 3,669 weekly departures out of the facility and has an 81.1% market share by capacity there. Turkish Airlines is set to relocate from Ataturk to the new airport, dubbed Istanbul Airport Airport, once it opens in October 2018.