Turkish company buys DiaSA for 129.7 million TL

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Discount supermarket chain DiaSA is now owned by the Turkish Yıldız Holding. Hürriyet photo

Spanish supermarket group Dia and Turkey’s Sabancı Holding have finalized the sale of their discount supermarket chain DiaSA to Şok Marketler, one of the subsidiaries of the Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding, for 129.7 million Turkish Liras by July 1.

After the deal, Yıldız Holding will own the second biggest discount market chain in Turkey with around 2,500 Şok and Dia stores after BİM, which reached 3,845 stores at the end of June 2013, while the sector looks likely to see more consolidations in the future.

A number of discount markets have changed hands in Turkey in the last years as well as high-end markets. “Yıldız Holding may, however, be the most aggressive player in the Turkish discount market, and could acquire new [yet smaller] chains in the future,” a sector representative told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.

“We plan to open 400 to 500 new Şok stores in 2013. Şok will grow aggressively both organically and through new purchases,” Ali Ülker, vice chairman of Yıldız Holding, had said at a press conference earlier this year.

Yıldız Holding plans to keep the Dia brand in the short term, according to sector representatives. “We’ll have the right the use of Dia brand in Turkey. We are planning to keep the brand around six months following the acquisition deal to see the results. If Şok and Dia are successful as separate brands, we will not to combine the brands,” Murat Ülker, chairman of Yıldız Holding, had said earlier this year to a group of journalists.