Turkish pension fund vows to press ahead with plans

ISTANBUL

The pension fund manager which oversees the retirement savings of Turkish Armed Forces personnel said Monday it has increased its consolidated net assets by 129% in the last four years to 118.3 billion liras ($17 billion) and there is no backtracking in its 2020 plans.

During a meeting with journalists, Suleyman Savas Erdem, the general manager of Oyak, provided information regarding its future goals and investment plans.

"In the coming period, we will continue our investments and through localization projects will contribute to the process of reducing foreign dependency, aiming to bring strength and resilience to the economy," Erdem noted.

With its new investments, he added, it will contribute to a process where Turkey will manufacture goods that are normally obtained abroad where the country has to pay an import bill of around $650 million.

"Despite all the difficulties in 2019, we drew a very successful graphic. We realized 2.7% of Turkey's total exports," he said, adding Oyak will work towards increasing foreign capital inflows to the country and strengthening domestic production.

Erdem said among the important areas of Oyak's future vision are agriculture and animal husbandry.

"We work intensely in the field of smart agricultural technologies, aiming to settle on a system in which both the farmer and the economy will win," he stressed.

He said Oyak has now invested in blockchain technology to establish a structure that will ensure the reliability of the value chain from seed to table.

Noting that the company has been closely following the subject of electric vehicles, he said Oyak's French partner has important investments in this regard.

"There is no investment in electric vehicles in our Bursa factory. However, we started an important investment with a decision we made about two years ago to produce aluminum blocks. About €100-€150 million.

"After a while, we will export the aluminum engine blocks to Europe from our factory in Bursa," he added.

He also noted that the investments that have been realized so far and that will result in the next three years total around $5 billion.

Oyak, established in 1961, is active in several sectors including mining, cement, automotive, finance, chemistry, metallurgy and energy.

*Written by Aysu Bicer from Ankara