Turkey: Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding is discussing potential takeovers with several cement producers in countries near Turkey, according to reports from Bloomberg quoting the Turkish industrial group's president, Mehmet Gocmen. The planned acquisitions are part of the group's goal to double its capacity or at least increase it above 20Mt by the end of 2017. According to Gocmen, Sabancı has the financial strength to buy more than one company at a time.
At present, Sabancı has as much as 13Mt of combined cement production capacity at Çimsa Çimento Sanayi & Ticaret which it owns, and Akçansa Çimento the industrial holding's joint venture with HeidelbergCement. Akçansa and Çimsa seek growth through deals both in Turkey and abroad as Turkish regulations do not allow a single company to hold a slice larger than 25% of the domestic market.
