The Abraaj Group, a private equity firm operating in growing markets in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, has acquired shares in one of Türkiye's largest logistics companies, Netlog. Abraaj Group operates in 30 countries through 17 offices and manages USD 7.7 billion of funds in 190 companies. This makes Abraaj the largest private equity fund in growing markets. The Group made its 10th investment in Türkiye with the share acquisition in Netlog.
Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Türkiye (ISPAT) President Arda Ermut emphasized at the press conference that Türkiye attracted an FDI amount of USD 12.3 billion in 2016, and added, “We think that we will exceed this amount in 2017. Global and regional developments could have constrained FDI inflow to Türkiye, yet the first six months of 2017 showed an 50 percent increase in equity investments year-on-year.” He further underlined that, along with real estate, new investments would be seen in the logistics, healthcare, financial services, IT, petrochemicals, food, energy, and manufacturing sectors.
Abraaj Group partner Omar Syed said in an interview that Abraaj has been present in Türkiye since 2007 and that they believe in the strong domestic market, the steady economic growth, and the diversified private sector in the country. He said that these factors present lots of long-term investment opportunities, particularly with regard to private equity investments. “As long-term investors, our conviction to partner with high-growth companies operating in high-growth sectors remains unchanged. Our investment in Netlog validates our consumer thesis, and represents the largest private equity investment made in a third-party logistics business (3PL) in Türkiye. Similarly moving forward, we will continue to evaluate new investment opportunities in Türkiye in consumer-driven sectors with strong growth potential,” said Syed.
Türkiye is considered to be unique for global logistics as its strategic location provides access within a four-hour flight radius to multiple markets with a combined population of 1.6 billion people, a combined GDP of USD 27 trillion, and more than USD 8 trillion of foreign trade, which corresponds to around half of total global trade. Logistics will continue to be a key sector in the long-term strategic development of Türkiye as the government plans to further upgrade its high-speed rail, motorways, and container port infrastructure by 2023.