Questions and answers
Buying and selling companies in Turkey, in short answers.
What international buyers, international owners of Turkish businesses and Turkish founders abroad ask us, answered briefly from the law in force and from our register of Turkish transactions. Each answer links to the page that goes further.
01
Acquiring a company in Turkey
- 01
How long does it take to acquire a company in Turkey?
For a negotiated acquisition, we plan for six to twelve months from first approach to signing; the owner decides when to begin. A deal the Competition Board must clear takes legal effect on approval or, absent any Board action, 30 days after a complete filing, or after any required opinion from another public body arrives (Law No. 4054, Article 10; Communiqué No. 2010/4, Article 11). Sector regulators can add months.
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 02
Do foreign buyers need approval to buy a Turkish company?
No general approval. Under the Foreign Direct Investment Law, foreign investors may invest freely and are treated as Turkish investors are, unless a treaty or a special law says otherwise; they report statistical information on the investment (Law No. 4875, Articles 3 and 4). The approvals come from the deal itself: the Competition Board above its turnover thresholds, and a sector regulator where the target’s licence requires it.
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 03
When is a Competition Board filing needed?
When a transaction brings a lasting change of control and, since 11 February 2026, the parties’ combined Turkish turnover exceeds TRY 3bn with at least two of them above TRY 1bn each in Turkey, or the target’s Turkish turnover exceeds TRY 1bn and another party’s worldwide turnover exceeds TRY 9bn. For a technology company based in Turkey, the target’s threshold is TRY 250m (Communiqué No. 2010/4, Article 7, as amended).
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 04
What happens if a deal completes before the Competition Board clears it?
The deal has no legal effect until cleared, expressly or by the Board’s silence for 30 days after a complete filing. A buyer that completes without approval faces a fine of 0.1% of its annual gross revenue; if the deal would significantly reduce effective competition, the fine can reach 10% and the Board can order it unwound (Law No. 4054, Articles 10, 11 and 16). Make clearance a completion condition.
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 05
Which sectors need their own regulator’s approval?
Banks: acquiring 10% or more, a holding crossing 10%, 20%, 33% or 50% either way, or shares with board-nomination privileges, needs banking regulator approval (Law No. 5411, Article 18); payment and e-money institutions need the central bank’s at the same steps (Law No. 6493, Article 25). Regulated-tariff electricity licensees need EPDK’s for a change of control or of 10% of the capital, 5% if listed (Law No. 6446, Article 5).
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 06
Can a foreign buyer own property through a Turkish company?
Yes, for its business. A Turkish company in which foreign investors hold 50% or more, or can appoint most of its managers, may acquire and use property for the activities in its articles; property in military or security zones needs the permission of the General Staff or the governor (Land Registry Law No. 2644, Article 36). The same applies when a buyer reaches 50% of a company that owns property.
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 07
How do you approach a Turkish company that is not for sale?
With a reason rather than an offer, in Turkish, through people who know the owner. In our experience, the companies foreign buyers want are often owned by founders or families in no hurry to sell. Without an auction, the owner weighs your offer against keeping the company, so the reason counts as much as the multiple: what you would do with it, and what happens to its name and people.
- 08
How does Orion work with a buyer’s own adviser abroad?
As one team. Orion is the Turkish member of Globalscope Partners, with member firms in 51 countries; if your adviser at home is a member firm, the two firms run one process in both countries. If it is not, we work alongside your advisers and lawyers and take the Turkish side: the market, the approach to owners in Turkish, diligence, the approvals timetable and completion.
02
Buyers, value and accounts
- 09
Who buys Turkish companies?
Mostly Turkish groups and investors. Our register records 1,542 transactions with a Turkish target since January 2023; 321 of them, about one in five, had a foreign buyer, from 52 countries. Strategic buyers led the first nine months of 2026, with almost two in three transactions. Financial investors have taken part in 666 transactions since 2023, in 392 of them for a minority stake.
- 10
Which countries’ buyers are most active in Turkey?
Since January 2023 the United States leads, with 63 transactions, followed by Germany (31), the United Kingdom (24), the United Arab Emirates (22) and France (20). Europe as a whole is the largest source of foreign buyers: 175 of the 321 transactions with a foreign buyer, 141 by European strategic buyers, who took control in 101. In 91% of the 321, the buyer’s country has a Globalscope member firm.
- 11
Which sectors draw the most foreign buyers?
Technology, media and telecoms, by a distance: 108 of the 321 transactions with a foreign buyer since January 2023. Then industrials (31), business services and financial services (26 each) and energy and natural resources (22). Each sector page shows who bought, from which countries, and the median disclosed value.
- 12
How large are foreign acquisitions in Turkey?
Larger than domestic ones. From January 2023 to September 2026 the median disclosed transaction with a foreign buyer was USD 25m, against USD 2.7m with a Turkish buyer, and foreign buyers took control in 179 of their 321 transactions. Many prices stay private: a value was disclosed in 117 of the transactions with a foreign buyer.
- 13
How are Turkish companies valued?
As a range, with a reason for each end. We set it from listed peers, comparable transactions and a cash-flow view of the company’s own plan, in US dollars or euros on figures restated from the Turkish statutory accounts, with the exchange-rate basis stated. Real growth is separated from price effects before any multiple is applied, and the range is tested against what buyers have actually paid in Turkey.
- 14
What does inflation accounting mean for a buyer reading Turkish accounts?
Companies reporting under TFRS or BOBİ FRS restate for inflation every annual period ending on or after 31 December 2023, under TMS 29 or BOBİ FRS Section 25, unless a sector regulator has set another date (KGK announcement). Figures are in the lira’s purchasing power at the reporting date, so restated growth is growth after inflation. Comparatives are restated too, so last year’s published figures will not match.
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 15
Why do a Turkish company’s tax accounts differ from its audited accounts?
They follow different rules. The tax balance sheet was adjusted on the producer price index at 31 December 2023 and for 2024; for 2025, 2026 and 2027 the adjustment is suspended, except for worked gold and silver traders and makers (Tax Procedure Law No. 213, provisional articles 33 and 37). The audited accounts are still restated, on consumer prices. Ask for both sets and the management accounts, with a reconciliation.
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
- 16
In which currency is the price agreed?
In the transactions we run with foreign buyers, usually in US dollars or euros, while the company keeps its accounts in lira. Both locked-box and completion-accounts structures work. Write into the agreement the exchange-rate source and the conversion date for every amount that crosses between the currencies: the price, each adjustment, any earn-out and any escrow.
- 17
Can the share purchase agreement be governed by foreign law?
Yes, where the transaction has a foreign element. Turkish private international law lets the parties choose the law that governs their contract, expressly or in terms that leave no doubt; the choice may cover all or part of the agreement and may be made or changed at any time (Law No. 5718, Articles 1 and 24). Without a choice, the law most closely connected with the contract applies.
Acquiring a company in Turkey: what shapes the price and the timetable
03
Selling a Turkish business
- 18
How do I sell a Turkish subsidiary?
As a sale in its own right, prepared before buyers see it. Show the business as it would stand alone: restated accounts converted into your currency, the group services it uses listed and priced, contracts and licences that pass to a new owner. The likeliest buyer is Turkish: in the first nine months of 2026, more than three in four transactions with a Turkish target had a Turkish buyer.
- 19
How is a sale kept confidential?
Buyers first see a short teaser that does not name the company; only those who sign a confidentiality agreement learn the name and receive the information memorandum. Plan for a public moment: the Competition Authority announces every notified transaction on its website, with the parties and their fields of activity (Communiqué No. 2010/4, Article 12). Decide before the filing what employees and customers will hear, and when.
- 20
Our company is based abroad, but its founders are Turkish. Can you help?
Yes. Companies that Turkish founders have built abroad are drawing capital and buyers: 18 raised capital or were sold in the first nine months of 2026, most of them in technology. Wherever the company is incorporated, we run the process with you, in Turkish where it helps, and with a Globalscope member firm in that market when it adds reach.
Sources
General information, not legal or tax advice.
Take advice from your own lawyers before you act. The answers follow the law in force on 11 October 2026. Transaction figures: Orion Capital Partners’ register of Turkish M&A, January 2023 to September 2026; a buyer’s country is its headquarters. Globalscope: globalscopepartners.com.
- Communiqué No. 2010/4 on Mergers and Acquisitions Requiring the Approval of the Competition Board, consolidated text, Articles 5, 7, 11 and 12
- Communiqué No. 2026/2 amending Communiqué No. 2010/4, Official Gazette No. 33165, 11 February 2026
- Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition, Articles 7, 10, 11 and 16
- Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, Articles 3 and 4
- Banking Law No. 5411, Article 18
- Law No. 6493 on Payment and Securities Settlement Systems, Payment Services and Electronic Money Institutions, Article 25
- Electricity Market Law No. 6446, Article 5
- Land Registry Law No. 2644, Article 36
- KGK, announcement on restating for inflation the financial statements of companies subject to independent audit
- Tax Procedure Law No. 213, repeated article 298 and provisional articles 33 and 37
- Law No. 5718 on Private International and Procedural Law, Articles 1 and 24
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