Kadir Has University (KHU) and the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEįK), both based in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC), a joint initiative of the Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York, are releasing today the results of their third annual survey of Turkish multinational enterprises (MNEs). Conducted in 2013, the survey is part of a long-term study of the rapid global expansion of MNEs from emerging markets and covers the period from 2010 to 2012.
In 2012, the 29 largest Turkish MNEs had foreign assets totaling US$ 36.7 billion (Table 1), foreign sales of US$ 23.4 billion, and 115,539 foreign employees (Annex I, Table 1). The top five companies together controlled 58% or a total of US$ 21.4 billion. The top ten companies controlled slightly more than 70% of total foreign assets, amounting to US$ 26.4 billion. Five out of these ten are conglomerates2; the remaining five are active in the infrastructure, glass, oil and gas, food and beverage, and energy sectors. Nineteen of the 29 MNEs are listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, with two of those companies also being listed on a foreign stock exchange.
These 29 MNEs have 426 subsidiaries overseas, 326 of which are located primarily in Europe and Central Asia, followed by the Middle East and Africa (53), East Asia, South Asia and the developed Asia-Pacific3 (31), and the Americas (16). Since the previous report published in 2011, the number of Turkish MNEs investing more than US$ 100 million has increased from 19 to 29. Comparing the top 19 MNEs of the previous report to the top 19 MNEs of this one indicates that the amounts of foreign assets, total assets, total sales, total employment, and number of host countries have risen, while the figures for foreign sales, foreign employment, average TNI, and the number of foreign affiliates have declined (Annex I, Table 8).
This report includes a number of new MNEs as compared to the previous survey. Following the EMGP methodology used, which requires a minimum of US$ 100 million in investment in foreign assets to be included in the ranking, ten new MNEs meeting this condition were included. These are the Anadolu Group (conglomerate), Yıldırım Holding (conglomerate), Hayat Holding (conglomerate), Gübretas (fertilizers), Türk Telekom (communications), Turkish Airlines (airlines), Ekol Lojistik (logistics), Kürüm Holding (iron and steel), Teklas (automotive), and Evyap (consumer products).