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merchants including Amazon, H&M, Zara, Avon and Sahibinden and generates Turkish lira (TRY) 5bn ($858mn) worth of annual transaction volumes. PayU has invested more than $500mn in the e-commerce industry since 2016. The company is looking to position itself to profit from rising internet adoption and e-commerce in emerging economies, and Turkey boasts the Middle East’s largest economy and a relatively young population. The focus of PayU on payments, one of the fastest growing areas in finance, puts the company in position to take a share of an industry that Boston Consulting Group forecasts will produce $1 trillion in new revenue through 2027. “We are constantly looking for ways to augment the naturally high organic growth in our markets by investing in new technology, as well as market consolidation,’’ Mario Shiliashki, head of payments at PayU, said in a phone interview with Bloomberg. “Being a leader in high growth markets will help us to grow faster than others.’’
Focus on faster growing markets. PayU is focused on faster growing markets such as Russia, India and African countries where online payments are not yet out of their infancy. It has also invested in the Indian payments sector and in the Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s cryptocurrency venture. Naspers last month proposed moving most of its internet businesses to a new listing in Amsterdam. It holds a 31% stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, which is valued at around $130bn, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Iyzico’s founders will retain a small minority stake in the new combined Turkish business, according to PayU.
Turkish conglomerate Demiroren dismisses rumours it will sell its media assets. Turkey’s Demiroren Group has finally responded to speculation that it was in talks to divest its media assets, including CNN Turk, and leading newspaper Hurriyet. The company issued a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange on July 2, saying: “The reports suggesting that Demiroren Media Group would change hands are definitely untrue.” It was rumoured that the Istanbul-based Demiroren would sell its media assets to Turkuvaz Group, which owns a scores of pro-government newspapers and TV channels. If the transaction materialized, it would create the largest media group in the country. Tuzkuaz Medya, considered to be close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government, owns Sabah newspaper and broadcasters ATV and A Haber. However, in the stock exchange filing Demiroren did not respond to claims that it has run into financial problems after it acquired Dogan Holding’s media companies, dailies Hurriyet and Posta, TV channels Kanal D and CNN Turk, Dogan News Agency, Dogan Media International, and the licenses of Radyo D and CNN Türk Radyo for a total consideration of $893mn in March last year. Demiroren, which operates in the energy, manufacturing, tourism, real estate development and e-commerce, reportedly took out $675mn from state-owned lender Ziraat to finance the acquisition. Medyaradar, the news portal that first reported the possible sales of Demiroren Media Group earlier in the month, claimed that Demiroren has been taking out loans from banks each month to pay salaries of the staff at its media companies.
9.2.6 Metallurgy & mining corporate news
BlackRock and the ‘Gulenist’s’ gold miner. June 25 also saw a stock exchange filing by US-based BlackRock that indicated that the global investment giant has increased its stake in gold miner Koza Altin to 5.01% from 4.94%. Shareholders that have a higher than 5% stake in a Borsa Istanbul-listed company are obliged to inform the public disclosure platform (KAP) regarding their transactions in company shares, according to local regulations. Koza-Ipek Group is owned by openly Gulenist businessman Akin Ipek, who is self-exiled in the UK. The group was seized by the Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) based on a Turkish court ruling after allegations of participation in an attempt to topple the government in December 2013, when a scandal involving corruption claims and audio recordings of Erdogan erupted. The court case continues but foreign investors’ interest in Koza Altin has not slackened. Koza Maden is another Borsa Istanbul-listed company of
86 TURKEY Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com