Anadolu Group subsidiary opens sixth plant in Pakistan

Anadolu Group, the largest investor in Pakistan with $500 million, opened a sixth plant in Faisalabad that increased Coca-Cola İçecek's (CCI) production capacity in the country by 18 percent.

CCI, whose main shareholder is Turkey's Anadolu Group, opened its sixth plant in Pakistan's Faisalabad with an investment of $45 million. The company plans to invest an additional $250 million over the next three years.

With an additional production capacity of 450 million liters of beverage, the Faisalabad factory has provided jobs to a total of 3,000 people. Anadolu Group Chairman Tuncay Özilhan said they carried out a profit transfer of nearly $50 million to Turkey, adding, "Turkey no longer spends even penny on investments abroad. We invest $150 million in Turkey every year. Even if we do not open a factory, we are investing this amount in our country. We will distribute TL 200 million [$49.4 million] to shareholders from the 2017 profit."

Indicating that they conveyed their request to Coca-Cola Co. to expand to new countries, Özilhan said that they want to expand especially around Turkey. Noting that there is yet to be concrete steps to this end, Özilhan said that half of the company's turnover comes from Turkey, while the other half comes from abroad.

From 2008 onward, CCI has increased its market share in the region to 37 percent from 26 percent, and tripled its sales volume. With the proposed free trade agreement that will boost trade relations, strong ties between Turkey and Pakistan will grow stronger. In addition to commodity trading, service and investment issues will also gain importance. Turkey has so far invested over $1 billion in the country. By 2020, this figure is expected to exceed $1.5 billion.