The champions away from home

Şişecam, Turkcell, Ülker, Vitra and others… For years these Turkish giants have been realizing massive investments. They are engaged in a fierce competition to be ‘the biggest’ both in their sectors and in their own fields. But this competition is not just limited to Turkish soil. It also has an international dimension. They are also managing investments worth millions of dollars outside Turkey. We conducted a study of the largest Turkish investments in every market, from Russia to China, the Balkans and Europe.

Virtually all of the giant Turkish companies have realised investments in other countries, but who are the Turkish investment kings? Leaving contracting firms aside, we determined the largest Turkish investors in other countries. In fact, the companies which have millions of dollars worth of investments in many countries, ranging from Ireland, Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic to Bosnia Herzegovina, are also the largest companies in Turkey.

Retailing The Leader In Russia
After the break-up of the Soviet Union and the opening up to free competition, a large number of Turkish investors went to Russia. There is no doubt that Ramstore is the leader. The partnership between Koç and Enka Holding in Russia began in 1997. To date they have invested approximately $650 million in opening Ramstores. The partnership between Koç-Enka is the largest investor in Russia, which is one of the countries which has attracted the most Turkish entrepreneurs. The total value of Turkish investments in the country is $3 billion.

Another important Turkish investor in Russia is Anadolu Efes. The recent acquisition of a 92 percent stake in the Krasny Vostok Beer Group took Anadolu Efes’s total investments in Russia to $625 million.

Another of the Turkish giants which has realized investments on a global scale and become one of the investment kings is Şişecam. Şişecam has investments in Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Egypt and Italy. It is the biggest Turkish investor in Bulgaria and Georgia. The company has invested $237 million in three plants in Bulgaria. It employs a total of 2,248 people. Its plant in Georgia produces glass packaging. Şişecam invested $20 million in the plant which employs 330 personnel. The company also has significant interests in Russia after investing $209 million in five plants.

Gsm Is The Leader In Ukraine
When one talks about investments abroad one of the first names that comes to mind is undoubtedly Turkcell. Turkcell is the leading GSM service provider in Turkey and one of its most important goals is to become the regional leader. In order to realize this goal, over the last few years the company has made investments in neighbouring companies. Ukraine is a country where Turkcell has become the most important Turkish investor through the company Astelit. The company signed an agreement with its partner Digital Cellular Communication (DCC) on 2 April 2004 and completed the groundwork for initiating its GSM operations in Ukraine. Turkcell has a 54.41 percent stake in Euroasia, while DCC and Astelit are fully-owned subsidiaries. In February 2005 Astelit began operations in Ukraine with the ‘life:)’ brand.

Yasemin Balaban
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