Foreign direct investments up 13 percent in Jan-May period

Burak Taşçı - ISTANBUL

Foreign direct investment flowing into Turkey has soared in the first five months of this year, according to the head of the presidential investment office.

“In the period of January-May in 2021, international direct investments in Turkey rose 13 percent compared to the same period last year to reach $3.35 billion,” Ahmet Burak Dağlıoğlu told daily Hürriyet yesterday.

Dağlıoğlu mentioned the 20 billion Turkish Lira ($2.31 billion) electric vehicle and battery factory investment of Ford Otosan, a joint venture of the U.S. carmaker and Turkey’s Koç Holding.

He also mentioned the $375 million investment made by PSA International and IFM Investors into the Mersin International Port as well as production bases founded by Chinese phone producers Oppo, Xiaomi, TCL, Realme and Tecno Mobile in Turkey.

Italian automotive products supplier Eldor’s $100 million investment in the Aegean Free Zone in İzmir is also among the significant foreign investments in the country, according to his remarks.

Turkey’s e-commerce and gaming sectors have also attracted big investments.

“While activities and investments of venture capital funds increase, sectoral diversity has also been achieved in this field. As we have all followed closely, Turkey’s four startups have reached the unicorn benchmark,” Dağlıoğlu said, referring to new technology firms with a market value of more than $1 billion.

Peak Games, which was acquired by U.S. entertainment giant Zynga for $1.8 billion last year, became the first Turkish unicorn.

The valuation of application-based fast delivery company Getir, which currently operates in Turkey, the U.K., the Netherlands, France and Germany, has jumped to over $7.5 billion in recent months.

E-commerce giant Trendyol and Dream Games have become other Turkish unicorns recently.

Meanwhile, another Turkish e-commerce pioneer, Hepsiburada, hit a market value of $4.38 billion after its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York last month.

Fintech firms DgNays and Birleşik Ödeme also attracted the attention of foreign funds.

In the first half of this year, Turkish technology companies received $1.26 billion in early-stage investments, Startups.watch data shows.

“We will continue winning investments that contribute to the technological transformation of our country, create jobs and help our current account balance,” Dağlıoğlu noted.

Touching on merger and acquisition agreements in the food sector, he recalled deals between U.S. company Kraft Heinz and Assan Gıda, Jordan-based Siniora Food and Polonez Gıda and U.A.E.-based Masterbaker and Arolez Gıda.