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Turkish military pension fund Oyak has dismissed media speculation suggesting that it plans to buy Turkish conglomerate Demiroren Holding’s media assets. Local news portal Oda TV claimed earlier on November 18 that Demiroren wanted to sell its media arm Demiroren Medya, which includes Hurriyet, Milliyet and Posta newspapers as well as CNN Turk, TV channel Kanal D and DHA news agency.
Demiroren bought the media outlets for $893mn from Dogan Holding in 2018. There is widespread speculation that the popularity of the daily newspapers and TV channels plunged after the ownership change.
“Oyak has no plans to step into the media sector, thus the news in local media regarding Oyak’s interest in Demiroren assets is untrue,” the pension fund said.
Hurriyet, the shares of which are traded on the Borsa Istanbul, issued a statement to the stock exchange on November 18. It too dismissed the speculation.
Shares in Hurriyet rose nearly 20% on November 18.
Oyak earlier in November announced that it had launched due diligence to buy fuel distribution companies Total Turkey and Moil from Demiroren.
9.2.8 Tourism corporate news
Turkey’s Anex Group has acquired bankrupted Thomas Cook’s German subsidiary Bucher Reisen & Oger Tours for an undisclosed sum, German news portal fvw has reported. Bucher Reisen & Oger has a total of 84 staff in two offices in Hamburg and Meerbusch, near Dusseldorf.
Anex already has a small tour operator unit in Germany.
Anex Group, with a turnover of around €2bn, has lately become the biggest tour operator in Russia after taking over Intourist from Thomas Cook Group.
Russia’s oldest and largest tour operator Intourist is planning an IPO, after a buyout of its shares from troubled Thomas Cook by the owner of Anex Tour major Neşet Koçkar, Reuters reported on November 14 citing an announcement by Intourist.
Koçkar will reportedly acquire the domestic and foreign tour operating business of Intourist, its retail chains, information systems, and other assets for an
104 TURKEY Country Report December 2019 www.intellinews.com
