Carrefour-Sabanci end supermarket stand-off
The nine month stand-off between French supermarket giant Carrefour and its Turkish partner Sabanci Holding has finally been resolved with the two companies announcing a deal under which Sabanci will take control of the pair’s Turkish joint venture CarrefourSA. Continue reading »
Turkish insurance: more deals to come
Reluctant customers
Turkey’s insurance sector could be heading for a period of consolidation following the announcement that Germany’s Allianz is to buy the non-life and pensions business of Turkey’s Yapi Kredi.
That deal makes Allianz Turkey’s biggest non-life insurer and largest private pension provider by portfolio size and the third largest life insurer. But analysts say there could be more deals to come – and plenty of opportunity for growth in an under-insured country. Continue reading »
Carrefour in Turkey: not so supermarket
A long-running spat between Turkey’s Sabanci and retail partner Carrefour has taken another downward turn: Haluk Dincer, head of Sabanci Retail and Insurance, says the group has lost patience with its French counterpart and that if it can’t get what it wants, it is ready to take legal action.
Serious stuff – though it hardly comes as a surprise. Continue reading »
Pegasus, Turkish budget airline, prepares to go public
Airlines may not have been the best performing stocks over the past few years but they can still generate excitement if they produce a successful business model in a tight market.
One example is Turkish budget carrier Pegasus, which this week said it had applied to the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) to launch an initial public offering this year. Continue reading »
Turkey: under-insured for earthquakes
Turkey is no stranger to seismic activity having suffered eleven earthquakes of magnitude 5.8 or over in the past 20 years, and daily experiences 50 or more minor tremors.
So, although the magnitude 4.5 quake that hit the Black Sea north westof Istanbul on Tuesday was felt across the city, it was in itself nothing unusual.
It did however serve as a timely reminder to Turks of the country’s potential for natural disaster. Continue reading »
Turkey privatisations: back on track
Turkey’s ambitious privatisation programme scored another significant success Friday with the successful sale of four more of the country’s regional power distribution companies for a total of $3.46bn.
The sale of the four was completed after more than six hours of open bidding between 16 companies. Continue reading »
Turkish energy: not enough storage
There is an oft-repeated mantra used to help explain Turkey’s perennially problematic current account deficit: “A $10 rise in the oil price adds $4bn to the current account deficit and half a percentage point to the inflation rate”.
It’s a simplification but it does neatly sum up Turkey’s position as a country with few energy reserves of its own. What it doesn’t tell you is the extent of Turkey’s dependence on imported gas and, given the country’s economic growth, how it is starting to look irreversible. Now the question is whether Turkey can get enough gas at the right time to avoid shortages. Continue reading »
Corporate watch: Turkish discount retailer makes a rare bet on Egypt
Had its good intentions been realised, the Arab spring would have been a magnet for foreign direct investment. Sadly, the instability that has followed the ousting of some of the region’s most notorious dictators has had the opposite effect, scaring away new entrants and making many foreign businesses with a foothold put their expansion plans on hold.
Which makes the news that BIM, a Turkish discount supermarket giant, is planning a rapid expansion into Egypt all the more significant. Continue reading »
Turkey: hunting for hydrocarbons
Normally the announcement of a small find of natural gas by a small independent oil company wouldn’t rate much media coverage.
But the announcement by Turkey’s Merty Energy that a well it has drilled in Turkey’s European province of Thrace has tested positive for commercial quantities of natural gas made headlines in the local media. Continue reading »
Corporate watch: Turkey’s Emlak Konut – risk free real estate?
It doesn’t take much familiarity with global property markets to work out that the concept of risk-free real estate development is, well, pure fantasy. Investment risk is like death and taxes: unavoidable, isn’t it?
Perhaps not if the interest in a planned secondary offering and capital expansion by Turkey’s Emlak Konut is anything to go by. The sale is worth noting given that Emalk’s's unusual business model has to a large extent done the seemingly impossible – eliminated most the risk associated with the development of the mega housing projects required to meet the needs of Turkey’s growing population and booming economy, but not at the expense of profitability. Continue reading »
Turkey’s new Capital Markets Law: a lot of misunderstanding
Turkey might not be a country that tops the freedom of the press list. As a recent report on Turkey by the Committee to Protect Journalists suggests, the country does still have “issues” regarding the reporting of activities of Kurdish opposition groups in particular.
But that should be no excuse for the wholesale misreporting of the country’s new Capital Markets Law, complete with dire warnings that it contains clauses criminalising acts such as sloppy reporting or analysis and that journalists and analysts who provide “wrong or untruthful information” could face jail sentences of up to five years. Continue reading »
Turkey and Abu Dhabi to develop Turkish coal field
With Turkish power demand having grown by an average of 8 per cent a year over the past decade, the announcement of new power plant projects is a relatively common occurrence. Announcements of 8,000MW of new plant at an estimated cost of up to $12bn, though, are less common. Continue reading »
Turkish manufacturing shows strength
Turkey’s manufacturing sector is signaling it anticipates growth in 2013, according to the Markit / HSBC Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for December published on Wednesday. The index, which is compiled monthly from data supplied by purchasing managers at 400 Turkish companies, rose for a fourth successive month. Continue reading »
Turkey trade figures: good on the surface, worrying beneath
Given the importance of manufactured exports to the Turkish economy and long term worries over the country’s trade imbalance and current account deficit, Turkey’s November trade figures released on Friday could be considered to be a something of a success.
After all a 24.8 per cent increase in exports and a 5.5 per cent narrowing of the trade gap from would be a welcome result for any European economy. For Turkey however, the devil is very much in the detail, with a number of seasonal and other factors making the rise in exports (from $11.08bn to $13.83bn) and the fall in the trade gap (from 7.57bn to $7.16bn) look more favourable than normal. Continue reading »
Turkey: power privatisation progress
The recent successful sales of three of Turkey’s 21 regional power distribution companies was good news for Turkey’s privatisation programme and its long stalled plans to liberalise its energy markets.
However news on Friday that the sale of a state coal fired power plant had attracted no less than 16 bidders promises to ensure that 2013 should be the year when Turkey finalises the move from a heavily state-controlled power market to a fully liberalised one. Continue reading »
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