Turkish companies on acquisition trail in SA

The Turks' new investment interests in SA will be tabled today, 4 October 2011, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan starts his two-day visit with an entourage of top government officials and businessmen.

Erdogan will be meeting Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe later in the day to negotiate a range of bilateral opportunities while the businessmen set out to woo their potential targets.

Investment bankers at Standard Unlu, Standard Bank 's 67%-owned Turkish asset, have confirmed that at least three Turkish companies are "looking seriously" at snapping up companies in SA.

With most of Europe and other trading partners in a debt crunch, there is a new push by the Turks to bed down investments in SA and other Southern African countries.

"It's still at the exploratory phase, so I can't name the companies or the targeted South African entities," Guray Zora, MD of corporate finance at Standard Unlu, said. "They are actively looking for opportunities in construction materials, like cement, to infrastructure construction and management of roads, airports, power stations and ports."

There is also huge interest in the services sector, particularly in food production and distribution companies, which have access to Africa's growing consumer markets.

The impending deal-flow comes hot on the heels of Turkish giant Arçelik's $327m (about R2,3bn) takeover of SA's leading appliance maker, Defy. The July transaction by Europe's third-largest home appliances maker is pending approval from the competition authorities.

The Arçelik deal was the first big foreign direct investment by a Turkish company in SA since the advent of democracy in 1994.

Source: Business Day