Turkish retail giant applies for suspension of bankruptcy

Dinçer Gökçe - ISTANBUL

Turkish retail chain Beğendik, which also owns Real hypermarket stores in the country, has applied for a suspension of bankruptcy, with a court deciding to appoint trustees as a measure.

The group made its application for its 46 Beğendik stores and 12 Real stores, as well as its restaurant chain, separately on April 7, according to the application documents, daily Hürriyet learned on April 12. 

The Anatolian 3rd Court of First Instance of Trade decided to appoint trustees for the companies and take the companies under protection against any garnish orders as a measure on April 8. 

Financial consultant Mehmet Yorulmazer and Uğur Gürsoy were named as trustees by the court. 

According to the documents, the companies have said problems in the economy played a main role in hitting their finances. Beğendik stores have been under a 130.7-million-Turkish-Lira debt and the restaurant chain has been under an 11.4-million-lira debt. 

Beğendik acquired Real stores from Germany’s Metro Group in 2014. The company has six Real stores in Istanbul, four in Ankara and one each in the Aegean province of İzmir, the Central Anatolian province of Konya and the Mediterranean resort of Antalya. Some 720 people work in Real stores, according to the documents. 

Beğendik’s chief executive told Reuters in September 2015 that the company had planned to buy 10 stores from Tesco Kipa as part of expansion plans that could ultimately lead to a stock market listing. Tesco’s subsidiary in Turkey, however, decided to hang onto some of its stores instead of selling them to rival Beğendik after their performance improved strongly, it said in January. 

Beğendik experienced a problematic period in financial terms in 2007. An Ankara court then made a bankruptcy decision for the company, and the decision was approved by the Court of Appeals. The company kept repaying its debts and asked for the abolishment of the decision of the bankruptcy suspension. In 2009, the decision was annulled by the court and the company restarted its activities.