Sector note · Financial services
Financial services: foreign groups enter by acquisition
Foreign groups enter Turkish financial services by buying a company that already holds the licence, and business services by buying contracts that take years to win; the regulator sets the timetable.
Named deals
- 1iDATA BLS International · about EUR 80m · 2024
- 2Odeabank, 96% ADQ · value not disclosed · 2024
- 3Rabobank A.Ş. Kaspi.kz · value not disclosed · 2025
- 4Turkish Bank, 99.32% Freedom Holding · USD 33.4m · 2026
- 5Yapı Kredi Portföy Azimut · about USD 349m · 2026
- 01
Since January 2023, foreign buyers made 52 of the 196 transactions in Turkish financial and business services in Orion’s register, and 33 of those 52 were acquisitions.
Orion Capital Partners register, January 2023 to September 2026
- 02
A direct or indirect purchase that takes a shareholder to 10% or more of a Turkish bank, or across 20%, 33% or 50%, needs the banking regulator’s permission; a transfer made without it cannot be entered in the share register.
- 03
Kaspi.kz agreed in March 2025 to buy Rabobank’s Turkish subsidiary, a fully licensed bank with no borrowing or deposit clients and no branches, and completed in July 2026. Freedom Holding, entering Turkey, agreed in March 2026 to buy 99.32% of Turkish Bank and completed on 31 July for USD 33.4m.
Kaspi.kz, 27 March 2025
Kaspi.kz, 15 July 2026
Freedom Holding, 11 March 2026
Freedom Holding, 31 July 2026
Freedom Holding, Form 10-Q - 04
Azimut agreed in July 2026 to buy all of Yapı Kredi Portföy, Yapı Kredi’s asset manager, for about EUR 305m (USD 349m) before cash at closing and an earn-out, with a 15-year exclusive agreement for Yapı Kredi to distribute its funds; completion is expected by December 2026.
- 05
BLS International bought all of iDATA, which runs visa application centres for Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, for about EUR 80m in July 2024; it said the deal would let it build relationships with new client governments in Europe.
BLS International, 9 July 2024
BLS International release, via Silicon UK, 12 July 2024
Orion view
A buyer from abroad is paying for time: a licence, a client book or a government contract that a newcomer would need years to win. The regulator decides when the deal closes: about five months from agreement for Turkish Bank, fifteen for Rabobank’s Turkish bank. Build the sale around that approval. Document the ownership chain down to 10%, keep the capital and compliance record clean, and show what the licence earns, not only what it permits.
Sources: as cited above, read October 2026; Orion Capital Partners analysis.
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