Çalık Holding

Çalık Holding is a Turkish company that has been operating in the energy, construction, mining, textile, finance, and telecom sectors since the 1980s. Founder and chairman Ahmet Çalık began his business career in the textile industry, founding Orta Doğu Tekstil in 1981 and Çalık Denim in 1987. During the early-1990s independence of CIS countries, he made his first foreign investments and founded Gap Pazarlama (to increase his company's share of international textile trading) and Gap İnşaat (to build plants). These companies were brought together as Çalık Holding in 1997. The umbrella company founded Çalık Enerji in 1998 and Aktif Bank in 1999, to enter the energy and finance sectors.

Çalık Holding
TypePrivate
IndustryTextile, energy, construction, finance, media, telecom and mining
Founded1997
FounderAhmet Çalık
Headquarters
Levent, Çarşı, Beşiktaş, Istanbul
,
Turkey
Key people
Ahmet Çalık (chairman)
Berat Albayrak (former CEO)
RevenueIncrease US$2.8bn[1]
Total assetsIncrease US$8bn[1]
Number of employees
20,000[1]
Websitecalik.com

Growing by investments since the 2000s, Çalık Holding acquired Banka Kombëtare Tregtare (operating in Albania and Kosovo). The group acquired ALBtelecom (Albania's oldest landline operator and Internet provider) in 2007, entering the telecom sector.

Çalık Holding entered the mining sector in a partnership with Canadian-based Anatolia Minerals, a member of the Toronto Stock Exchange. It founded Çalık Cotton in 2011, aiming to be among the top 10 global companies in the cotton trade.

After participating in the privatization of the electricity-distribution sector, Çalık Holding provided electricity to seven million customers (according to 2015 data). The company acquired YEDAŞ in 2010, Kosovo Electricity Distribution Company (KEDS, in association with Limak Holding) in 2012, and ARAS EDAŞ (in association with Kiler Holding) in 2013.

Subsidiary Çalık Enerji was included in ENR's annual list of top 250 international contractors. The company turned its 20-year business relationship with the Mitsubishi Corporation into a partnership in 2015, when Mitsubishi acquired 4.5 percent of Çalik Enerji.[2] Çalık Holding employs over 28,000 people in 17 countries, and its assets are valued at US$7.6 billion.

Sectors

Textiles

Çalık's background is in textiles, with the family's involvement in the sector dating to the 1930s. The first company, Ortadoğu Tekstil, was founded by Ahmet Çalık in 1981; Gap Güneydoğu Tekstil was founded to manufacture denim in 1987. In 1997, a factory was established in Turkmenistan.[3]

Media

Çalık Group acquired Albtelecom and became a landline operator and Internet provider in Albania in 2007. The company acquired Turkuvaz Media Group, which owns the Sabah newspaper and ATV television station, from the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey the following year. The $1.1-billion sale was controversial in Turkey, since it was partially financed by $750 million in loans from two state banks (VakıfBank and Halkbank)[4] and sold for the minimum price; Çalık was the sole bidder.[5] A Turkish law limiting foreign ownership to 25 percent of media assets was believed to have contributed to the situation.[5] The acquisition was also financed with a 25-percent investment from Qatar, allegedly requested by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (a "close associate"[6] of Çalık chairman Ahmet Çalık); former Çalık CEO Berat Albayrak is Erdoğan's son-in-law.[3][7]

Turkuvaz' holdings, in addition to Sabah and ATV, include the newspapers Takvim, Yeni Aktüel and Pas Fotomaç. In 2012, Çalık attempted to sell the company.[8]

Energy
Further information: Çalık Enerji
  • Çalık Enerji[9]
  • Yeşilırmak Electricity Distribution Company (YEDAS)[10]
  • Kosovo Energy Distribution Services (KEDS)[11]
  • Aras Edaş

In 2012, Çalık Holding completed construction of a new power plant in Iraq. It and another plant (under construction) will supply 2,000 MW and a potential capacity of 4,500 MW.[12]

Construction and real estate
  • Gap İnşaat[13]
  • Çalık Gayrimenkul[14]

Mining
  • Lidya Madencilik[15]
  • Polimetal Madencilik

The company signed joint venture agreements with Alacer Gold (Çalık Holding's partner in the Çöpler Gold Mine in Iliç, Erzincan) for 16 properties in a number of Turkish cities, and owns 50 percent of the three companies established for this purpose. Gold production in Erzincan's Çöpler Gold Mine exceeded 185,000 ounces in 2011.

Finance

Çalıkbank was founded in 1999, and was renamed Aktif Yatırım Bankası in 2008.[3] Sixty percent of Albania's Banka Kombetare Tregtare was acquired in 2006, and the remainder in 2009.[3] Other financial holdings are BKT. and Aktif Bank. The latter has come under scrutiny for potential money-laundering and other financial crimes.[16][17]

Telecommunications

References
  1. Çalık, The ÇALIK signature in 7 different sectors in 17 countries…
  2. "Ahmet Calik". Forbes. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  3. Çalık, Milestones Archived 12 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Çalık Holding press release, 22 April 2008, ÇALIK HOLDING ACQUIRES ATV-SABAH
  5. Reuters, 12 January 2008, Turkey eyes reform of media ownership law -paper
  6. The Economist, 8 May 2008, Circulation wars
  7. Hurriyet Daily News, 2008, Turk opposition wants PM censured over media sale
  8. Reuters, 30 January 2012, News Corp among 3 bidders for Calik media: sources
  9. "Çalık Enerji". Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  10. "YEDAS" (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  11. "KEDS". Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  12. Çalık Holding: Çalık Enerji signs on to Iraq's electricity
  13. "Gap İnşaat". Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  14. "Çalık Gayrimenkul". Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  15. "Lidya Madencilik" (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  16. "Erdoğan's son-in-law played critical role in Zarrab's sanctions scheme - insider". Ahval. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  17. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "FinCEN Files: How Turkey's Aktif Bank helped Wirecard and the porn industry | DW | 21 September 2020". DW.COM. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  18. "ALBtelecom" (in Albanian). Retrieved 8 July 2018.
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