Hurriyet – The number of merger and acquisition (M&A) operations in Türkiye during the January-March period has reached 73, creating a total volume of USD 8 billion, according to an Ernst&Young (E&Y) survey. Up by 40 percent when compared to a year earlier, the high deal count and volume show that Türkiye’s appeal remains strong for investors following last year’s record M&A volume of USD 30 billion.
The privatization of two state-owned utilities, Toroslar and Ayedas , and a natural gas grid, Baskent Gaz, topped the public transactions list, while Allianz’s acquisition of Yapi Kredi Sigorta, the insurance arm of Turkish-Italian partnered Yapi Kredi Bank and the takeover of majority stakes of Turkish Alternatif Bank by the Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) were listed as the most sizeable private sector operations.
E&Y report ranked energy, manufacturing, financial services, and real estate as Türkiye’s most active sectors for the period in terms of M&A operations, and stated that their previous forecast of USD 25 billion for the annual total was achievable provided that the upcoming privatizations and expected private sector deals went ahead.
According to E&Y survey data, Türkiye has been leading the Central and South Eastern Europe regions in M&A operations for the last two years, reaching USD 15 billion in 2011 and USD 30 billion in 2012.