Dünya – The volume of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Türkiye reached USD 16.5 billion last year, according to financial advisory firm Deloitte’s Annual Turkish M&A Review 2015.
Foreign investors accounted for 70 percent of the total volume of last year’s M&A deals, with their share increasing by 44 percent over the preceding year to reach USD 11.5 billion. Of the 245 transactions that took place in 2015, foreign parties were involved in 125, while Turkish investors underwrote the remainder. The number of M&A deals in 2014 stood at 236 while the volume was USD 21 billion.
In 2015, European investors made 62 M&As in Türkiye, followed by 28 North American investors, 19 Far Eastern investors and 14 deals by Gulf investors. In terms of deal volumes, Gulf investors took the lion’s share with 39 percent, mostly due to sizeable Qatari investments in lender Finansbank, retailer Boyner and pay-TV network Digiturk.
Excluding privatizations, which took an 11 percent share of the total amount, 2015’s M&A volume was the highest in the past three years. Manufacturing, energy and services sectors were the top three in terms of deals while energy, financial services and infrastructure constituted the top three in deal value.
Foreign investors emerged as drivers in Türkiye’s M&A market in 2015, according to Basak Vardar, Financial Advisory Services Leader at Deloitte Türkiye when commenting on the study. Vardar, predicting that Türkiye will retain its appeal for investors in the new year, pointed to manufacturing, energy, food and services sectors as primary points of interest in the M&A market in 2016.