Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced future plans to invest $2 billion in Turkey after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
After the meeting in Istanbul on Friday, Michael Evans, the head of the Chinese giant, made the announcement, according to a statement from its Turkish unit Trendyol. He revealed that the firm has “confidence in Turkey’s sound economic fundamentals” and has already invested $1.4 billion in the nation through Trendyol, Turkey’s biggest e-commerce marketplace.
Evans voiced backing for Trendyol’s international growth plans and emphasized that Turkey can become one of the leading e-export nations, according to the statement.
He didn’t give detailed information about the investment calendar, saying the plan is for “the coming period.”
Trendyol achieved a valuation of $16.5 billion in 2021, raising funds from investors including SoftBank Group, General Atlantic, Qatar Investment Authority, and Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ.
Trendyol said Alibaba has a 76.1 percent stake in the e-commerce operator.
Turkey established an antitrust investigation into Trendyol in 2021. In July, Turkey’s top court maintained a law tightening regulation on e-commerce firms in a collision with the company.
The Constitutional Court said that the law, which limits companies’ advertising spending and usage of customer data if their sales surpass given thresholds, was in line with the constitution, denying an objection by the main opposition party.
Turkey’s total e-commerce volume increased 109 percent previous year to over 800 billion liras, with nearly a fifth of all shopping done online, Trade Ministry data show.
