Çalık Holding


Çalık Holding 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 and Gap İnşaat. Group 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.
Growing by investments since the 2000s, Çalık Holding acquired Banka Kombetare Tregtare. This resulted in a 25-percent increase in market share, making it the largest bank in the country. The group acquired ALBtelecom 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. The company acquired YEDAŞ in 2010, Kosovo Electricity Distribution Company in 2012, and ARAS EDAŞ in 2013.
Subsidiary Çalık Enerji was included in ENR 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 Mistubishi acquired 4.5 percent of Çalik Enerji. 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.

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 and sold for the minimum price; Çalık was the sole bidder. A Turkish law limiting foreign ownership to 25 percent of media assets was believed to have contributed to the situation. The acquisition was also financed with a 25-percent investment from Qatar, allegedly requested by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ; former Çalık CEO Berat Albayrak is Erdoğan's son-in-law.
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.

Energy

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

Construction and real estate

The company signed joint venture agreements with Alacer Gold 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.
Sixty percent of Albania's Banka Kombetare Tregtare was acquired in 2006, and the remainder in 2009. Other financial holdings are Aktif Bank and BKT.

Artificial Intelligence

OPAC International founded by Kerem Albayrak, backed by Çalık Holding focuses on Artificial Intelligence fraud prevention. The firm was selected "BEST" Artificial Intelligence firm at the Bitmain & TSMC AI DATA chip summit

Telecommunications

The company has been involved in the construction of dental and eye hospitals in Turkmenistan, with a capacity of 120 beds. Çalık Holding has collaborated with international companies including Rosneft, Initec Energia, Eni, Mitsubishi, EBRD, EWE, General Electric, Alacer Gold and Qatar Holdings.

Executive committee and management

Onur Yucekal- CFO