Abraaj Group İnvesting İn Turkey's Hepsiburada.com

The Abraaj Group, a leading investor operating in global growth markets, on Feb. 23 announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Hepsiburada.com, a market leader in Turkey's online retail sector.

The investment will be used by Hepsiburada to accelerate the rapid expansion of its market leading e-commerce operations in Turkey, including a custom-built, state-of-the-art fulfillment center, the company said in a written statement yesterday.

"Our investment in Hepsiburada represents a landmark transaction for Abraaj in the online retail space and marks our ninth investment in Turkey since 2007. Our strong credentials in Turkey are underpinned by proven partnerships, outstanding exits and a robust commitment to value creation, which we will continue to demonstrate using our significant regional and investment expertise to transition. Hepsiburada into the next phase of its growth trajectory" said Arif Naqvi, founder and group chief executive of the Abraaj Group.

Established in 1998, Hepsiburada is owned by the Doğan Group, a leading Turkish conglomerate active in the media, energy, financial services and tourism sectors. The company offered over 500,000 products in more than 30 different categories in 2014.

"Our goal at Hepsiburada is to offer a simplified and improved shopping experience to Turkish consumers by providing them with the full gamut of products they need at competitive prices and with value-added services. Looking ahead, we are launching our new marketplace platform in early 2015, fully accessible to third-party merchants, which will underpin the inevitable transformation of the Turkish retail sector. We are also committed to a mobile-first approach and will launch our responsive site in the second half of 2015" said Hanzade Doğan Boyner, executive chairwoman of Hepsiburada.

"The partnership with Abraaj will further strengthen our leadership position and provide us with a competitive edge as we continue our expansion plans in Turkey and the region" she added.

Hepsiburada.com is the market leader in the Turkish online retail sector and is the most visited online retail site in the country with over 1.5 million unique customers a year and more than 14 million unique monthly visitors, corresponding to more than a third of Turkey's total online population, the company said.

"The online retail sector in Turkey has been growing seven times faster than store-based retail since 2007, yet online retail penetration in the country is still low at approximately one-fifth of European levels. Hepsiburada is the … largest player in the online retail sector in Turkey, and is uniquely positioned to lead the expansion of e-commerce in the country. We are very excited to partner with this dynamic business" said Selçuk Yorgancıoğlu, partner and regional head of Turkey and Central Asia at the Abraaj Group.

Abraaj's investment is slated to be used to implement the value creation plan prepared together with the management team, which includes relocating to a new, purpose-built fulfilment center . The new fulfilment center with its 100,000 square meters of operational floor will be the largest infrastructure investment in the Turkish retail sector to date and will replace its existing five warehouse facilities.

(PHOTO) - Istanbul