Türkiye Inbound Investment Review 2025

Foreign direct investment into Türkiye reached $13.0 billion in 2025, up 11.5% on 2024, and its make-up changed: property purchases fell for a fourth year while equity capital into companies reached a five-year high. Foreign buyers paid $7.03 billion in 55 acquisitions of Turkish companies, the highest total since 2013.

Executive summary

More investment, and a different kind. Inflows rose to $13.0 billion. Excluding real estate, they reached $10.7 billion, the highest in a decade. New equity capital from abroad, the money foreign owners put into Turkish companies, rose to $9.7 billion, the highest of the last five years.

Less property, more companies. Purchases of Turkish property by non-residents fell for a fourth consecutive year, to $2.3 billion. Real estate made up 42% of inflows in 2022 and 18% in 2025. Foreign capital is increasingly buying into operating businesses rather than buildings.

Acquisitions were the main channel. Foreign buyers completed or agreed 55 acquisitions of Turkish companies worth $7.03 billion, more than double 2024 and the highest total since 2013. They accounted for 48% of the value of all transactions involving Turkish companies.

Europe still leads, but the map is widening. EU investors supplied 66% of new equity capital. In acquisitions, German and French buyers were the most active, while the year's largest single deals came from Kazakhstan and the United States.

Trade, manufacturing and technology absorbed most of the money. Wholesale and retail trade took 32% of new equity capital, manufacturing 31% and information and communication 14%. Food and beverage manufacturing alone took 14%, more than three times its 2024 level.

The market moved in both directions. Foreign owners also withdrew more capital through liquidations than in any of the previous four years. 2025 was a year of more activity, not only more entry.

The big picture: a stronger, different year

Türkiye received $13.0 billion of foreign direct investment in 2025, according to the central bank's balance of payments. That is 11.5% more than in 2024 and the second-highest total of the last five years, after 2022.

The headline has three parts, and they moved in different directions:

• Equity capital — money foreign owners invest in Turkish companies, net of withdrawals — rose to $8.0 billion. Gross inflows were $9.7 billion, 45% more than in 2024.
• Intra-company loans — lending from foreign parents to their Turkish subsidiaries — were flat at $2.7 billion.
• Real estate bought by non-residents fell to $2.3 billion, from $6.3 billion at its 2022 peak.

The change in composition matters more than the total. In 2021 and 2022, property accounted for more than four dollars in every ten of foreign investment. In 2025, it accounted for less than two. Investment that goes into companies tends to bring management, customers and supply chains with it; investment that goes into apartments does not.

The picture holds on other measures. UNCTAD, which compiles FDI on a different basis, puts Türkiye's 2025 inflows at $12.5 billion, up 13.6%. That compares with 6% growth in global FDI and 2% growth across developing economies. The OECD's figure is also $12.5 billion. EY counted 383 announced foreign investment projects in Türkiye, up 20%, placing it fourth in Europe by project count. And 7,793 new companies with foreign shareholders were registered during the year, slightly more than in 2024.

One qualification belongs next to the good news. Liquidations — capital that foreign owners took out of Turkish companies — reached $1.7 billion, more than three times the 2024 figure. Some foreign owners were exiting while others were entering. For a Turkish owner, that is the normal shape of a working market: buyers and sellers both active.

Where the capital came from

The European Union supplied 66% of new equity capital in 2025, above its 58% share of cumulative inflows since 2003. The Netherlands ($2.9 billion) and Luxembourg ($1.2 billion) were the two largest sources, followed by Kazakhstan ($1.1 billion), Germany ($779 million) and the United States ($536 million).

These country figures need careful reading. The Netherlands and Luxembourg are home to many holding companies that multinational groups use to own businesses elsewhere. Money recorded as Dutch or Luxembourgish often belongs to investors based in other countries. Published statistics do not identify the ultimate investor, so the true origin of about four in every ten dollars is not visible.

Kazakhstan's third place is new. It coincides with the completion, in January 2025, of the year's largest acquisition of a Turkish company by a foreign buyer: Kaspi.kz taking control of the e-commerce platform Hepsiburada. The central bank does not attribute flows to individual transactions, but the timing and size are consistent.

Acquisition data gives a clearer view of who is buying, because it records the buyer rather than the holding structure. Of the 55 foreign acquisitions notified to the Competition Authority in 2025, German buyers made 9 and French buyers 6. Buyers from the United States and the United Arab Emirates made 4 each.

Gulf investors remain a smaller but visible presence. The United Arab Emirates supplied $367 million of equity capital, about 4% of the total, and an Abu Dhabi fund completed the purchase of 96% of Odeabank in March 2025.

Where it went, through five sectors

New equity capital was concentrated: three sectors took 77% of it. We look at the year through the five sectors in which MYD Capital Partners works.

Retail, Trading & Export

Wholesale and retail trade received $3.1 billion, 32% of new equity capital and nearly double its 2024 level. It was also the sector with the highest acquisition value in the Competition Authority's data, and 1,052 new wholesale trading companies with foreign shareholders were registered during the year, the largest group of new foreign-partnered firms. Buyers are paying for distribution, logistics and consumer reach: France's CEVA Logistics agreed to buy Borusan's contract logistics business, and Poland's Benefit Systems acquired the MACFit fitness chain. Read our sector view.

Technology, AI & E-commerce

Information and communication received $1.3 billion, 14% of new equity capital and almost five times the 2024 figure. The largest foreign acquisitions of the year were in this sector: Kaspi.kz's purchase of 65% of Hepsiburada for about $1.1 billion, and Uber's purchase of 85% of Trendyol Go for about $700 million. Software was the sub-sector with the most acquisitions. Venture investment in Turkish startups totaled $1.4 billion, most of it from foreign investors. Read our sector view.

Food & Agriculture

Food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing received $1.3 billion, 14% of new equity capital, compared with 5% of cumulative inflows since 2003. That makes 2025 an unusually strong year for the sector. It arrived as equity capital rather than through headline acquisitions: we found no large foreign acquisition with a disclosed price in food or agriculture during the year. Published data does not separate agriculture itself. Read our sector view.

Fintech & Blockchain

Finance and insurance received $717 million, 7% of new equity capital. Activity came through two channels. Foreign buyers acquired banks: ADQ completed its purchase of 96% of Odeabank, and Kaspi.kz agreed to buy Rabobank's Turkish subsidiary. And foreign venture investors backed Turkish fintechs, including Sipay ($78 million) and Midas ($80 million). Read our sector view.

Real Estate & Construction

Property purchases by non-residents fell to $2.3 billion, the fourth annual decline. Construction attracted company formation rather than large inflows: 410 new building construction companies with foreign shareholders were registered. In building materials, Titan Group agreed in December to buy Traçim Cement for a reported $190 million. Read our sector view.

Acquisitions: the channel that matters for owners

For owners of private companies, acquisitions are the most direct measure of foreign demand: they show how many foreign buyers were ready to pay for a Turkish business, and how much.

The Competition Authority's figures, which cover transactions notified to it and exclude privatizations, show a clear break in 2025. Foreign buyers agreed 55 acquisitions of Turkish companies worth $7.03 billion. That is more than double the $3.03 billion of 2024, more than four times the 2020 low, and the highest total since 2013. Foreign buyers accounted for 48% of the value of all transactions involving Turkish companies, including privatizations.

Three features of the year stand out.

Larger deals. A small number of large transactions drove the value. Deals above $500 million rose from one to seven across the whole market, and their share of total value rose from 13% to 44%.

More financial investors. The value of deals by private equity and other financial investors roughly doubled, from $2.2 billion to $4.6 billion, and private equity alone rose from $0.9 billion to $3.8 billion. Financial investors typically buy with a plan to sell again within several years, which also creates future buyers and future exits.

Buyers from new directions. European buyers remained the most numerous, but the largest single transactions came from Kazakhstan and the United States, and Gulf capital was active in financial services.

Notable foreign acquisitions of Turkish companies, 2025

Selected transactions from public announcements, grouped by sector. Values are as disclosed by the parties or reported at announcement.

Different sources count the market differently. Deloitte, which includes privatizations and smaller deals, counts 450 transactions worth about $16.2 billion in 2025, of which foreign buyers made 89 worth $6.9 billion. KPMG counts 574 transactions. The numbers differ because each source uses its own thresholds and definitions. The trend they show is the same: 2025 was the strongest year for foreign acquisitions in more than a decade.

Acquisition values and FDI figures cannot be added together or compared directly. An acquisition value is the agreed price; part of it may be paid outside Türkiye, in installments, or for a stake below the 10% threshold that defines direct investment.

The operating environment in 2025

Foreign investors made these decisions against a background of falling but still high inflation and a central bank that was cutting interest rates.

• Inflation. Consumer prices rose 30.9% in the year to December 2025.
• Interest rates. The central bank cut its policy rate from 47.5% at the start of the year to 38% in December. The path was not one-way: it raised the rate to 46% in April before resuming cuts in July.
• The lira. The US dollar rose about 21% against the lira over the year, from 35.28 to 42.85, less than the rise in consumer prices. In real terms the lira strengthened, which makes Turkish assets more expensive for dollar-based buyers.
• Incentives. A new investment incentive system (Presidential Decree No. 9903) was introduced in May 2025, replacing the framework in place since 2012. It has three parts — the Türkiye Century Development Move, sectoral incentives and regional incentives — with applications open until the end of 2030.
• Tax. Türkiye introduced a 15% global minimum tax for large multinational groups and a 10% domestic minimum corporate tax, in line with the OECD framework.
• Policy targets. The government's International Direct Investment Strategy for 2024–2028 aims to raise Türkiye's share of global FDI to 1.5% by 2028.

What this means for family-owned businesses

The data describes the market as a whole. For the owner of a single company, a few practical conclusions follow.

Foreign buyers are active in your market. In 2025, foreign buyers made more than one acquisition of a Turkish company every week, across trade, logistics, consumer services, technology and finance. If you own a well-run business in these sectors, it is realistic to expect interest from abroad, not only from domestic competitors.

Buyers are looking for companies, not assets. The shift away from real estate and toward equity capital means foreign investors are paying for businesses that run: customers, teams, systems and brands. What they value is what a buyer can verify and keep after the owner steps back.

Preparation decides the price. A foreign buyer will test your financial statements, your governance and how the business handles currency risk more closely than a local buyer. Companies whose accounts, contracts and decision-making are already in order usually move faster through due diligence and face fewer price reductions. Our M&A readiness checklist and cross-border M&A guide explain what buyers examine.

Timing is a choice, not a given. Strong years attract buyers, and they also attract other sellers. The rise in liquidations shows that some foreign owners are already taking capital out. An owner who prepares before deciding to sell keeps the option to move when the market suits them, rather than when circumstances force it. That is the purpose of The Goldsmith™.

If you want to see how a buyer would view your company today, the Global Readiness Assessment takes about five minutes. For a confidential discussion of your options, contact us.

What to watch in 2026

We do not forecast. These are the indicators we will follow for next year's review:

• The pace of rate cuts and disinflation. Lower rates reduce the cost of financing acquisitions and tend to support valuations.
• Whether equity capital holds up. The 2025 total included a few very large transactions. A second strong year would show a broader trend.
• Real estate. Whether property purchases stabilize or continue to fall.
• Capital from outside Europe. The share of Gulf, Central Asian and East Asian investors, and whether more of them buy directly rather than through holding companies.
• The new incentive system in practice. How many foreign projects receive incentive certificates, and in which sectors.
• Private equity exits. Funds that bought in 2025 will eventually sell, which creates future opportunities for strategic buyers and for Turkish owners seeking partners.

Figures reflect the central bank's balance of payments as published in July 2026; 2025 data is provisional. Growth rates, shares and multiples not stated by a source are our own calculations from the published figures.