Turkey’s rich get 26 pct richer with $117.8 bln

ISTANBUL

Ferit Şahenk, owner of Doğuş group, is named as the richest Turk in the ‘100 Richest Turks’ list published by Forbes magazine.

Ferit Şahenk has risen to become the richest person in Turkey, according to the “100 Richest Turks” list released by Forbes, which also shows that both the number of billionaires and their total fortune has hit a seven-year record.

The total wealth of 100 Turkish tycoons has reached $117.8 billion. It was announced as $95 billion in last year’s Forbes list.

The 50 percent surge in the bourse last year spurred the increase of the total wealth of Turkish billionaires, said Handan Bayındır, the chief editor of Forbes Turkey, underlining 41 percent of the billionaires’ companies are traded at the stock exchange.

Ferit Şahenk, owner of the Doğuş Group, raised his $2.6 billion total wealth to $3.4 billion, topping the list for the first time after coming in last year’s fourth place. His sister, Filiz Şahenk, also ranked as the sixth wealthiest Turk.

Hüsnü Özyeğin, who was ranked the first last year, ranked third in the current list with his $3.1 billion fortune. The second wealthiest person in Turkey is revealed to be Semahat Arsel, the sister of late tycoon Vehbi Koç, and Rahmi Koç’s aunt, with a fortune of $3.2 billion.

Murat Ülker, chairman of Yıldız holding, shares third place with Özyeğin at $3.1 billion.

Three new billionaires

One of the most striking findings is the $500 million slump of Mehmet Emin Karamehmet’s fortune, dropping him to 11th place in the list from last year’s second.

Board chairman of the Abdi İbrahim pharmaceutical company, Nezih Barut, the Turkish owner of the American yogurt manufacturer Chobani brand, Hamdi Ulukaya, and one of the founders of Kazancı Group, are the three new Turkish billionaires. Nine new wealthy also joined 100 wealthy Turks.

Number of “billionaire Turkish families” has also jumped to 28, from 20 last year.