Yıldız Holding chairman remains Turkey’s wealthiest person

ISTANBUL

CİHAN photo

Yıldız Holding Chairman Murat Ülker was again named Turkey’s wealthiest person in 2016 with a fortune of $2.9 billion, Forbes magazine revealed on Feb. 29.        

Yıldız Holding, which is Turkey’s largest food maker, has grown through acquisitions of a number of global firms in recent years. It became the third largest biscuit company in the world with the acquisition of United Biscuits in December 2014.    
   
Forbes said steep losses were seen in the wealth of a number of Turkish businesspeople last year, mainly due to the plunging value of the Turkish Lira and losses on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Ülker’s wealth was $4.4 billion in the previous year’s list. 

The magazine calculates a person’s fortune through his/her shares in companies and cash money, real estate and artworks.        

The total wealth of the top 100 richest people in Turkey saw a decrease of $6 billion in total compared to the previous year. Overall, the 100 richest people in Turkey have $94.7 billion, down from $100.4 billion in 2015.        
In the Forbes 100 for Turkey, Fiba Holding boss Hüsnü Özyeğin came second with a $2.6 billion fortune, while Doğuş Holding chair Ferit Şahenk was third with $2.4 billion.  

There are 21 women in the richest person list. The wealthiest is Semahat Arsel from Koç Holding with a fortune $2.2 billion, ranking her fourth in the top 10 list, followed by Rönesans Holding founder and president Erman Ilıcak, LC Waikiki majority shareholder Mustafa Küçük, Koç Holding Honorary President Rahmi Koç and ENKA Group Honorary President Şarık Tara, who all shared the fifth rank with $2 billion. Küçük had only been worth $450 million in the previous list. 

Another member of Koç Holding, Suna Kıraç, ranked ninth with $1.8 billion. 

Many Turks in the overall list have investments in the real estate and energy sectors.        

“This year was very interesting. We see significant decreases, increases and new names. Overall, it was very mixed,” said Burçak Güven, Forbes’ Turkey editor-in-chief, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.