Üstündağ Group to invest in Balkans
Turkish Daily News July 29, 2008
Üstündağ Group to invest in Balkans
SADİ ÖZDEMİR
ISTANBUL - HÜRRİYET
Board chairman of Üstündağ Group, Adil Üstündağ, who is one of the first automobile manufacturers of Turkey and the owner of Green Park hotels, has managed to obtain a market value of $1 billion in the tourism sector within 15 years. Üstündağ started to invest in the tourism sector with the construction of a 180-room hotel in Taksim in 1993. Üstündağ, who owns four hotels in Taksim, Merter, Bostancı and Kocaeli’s Kartepe districts, plans to complete the construction of a giant congress hotel in Pendik prior to the next Formula 1 races in 2009. Meanwhile, Üstündağ, who bought land in Ankara’s Çankaya district to construct a hotel in the region, has started to carry out the necessary procedures to go public. Üstündağ noted that the group will invest $50 million and construct a hotel with 200 room and 400 bed capacity in Çankaya. “We do not mind about politics, our major concern is cumbersome bureaucracy. For instance, Çankaya Municipality and Ankara Metropolitan Municipality do not get along very well, however we believe that both of these municipalities will not hesitate to help our group in our investments for the region,” said Üstündağ. “We have completed the major procedures with the relevant institutions to go public. We have a market value of nearly $1 billion and we would like to offer 30 percent of this value to the public,” said Üstündağ. “We have not officially started this public offering process, however foreign institutional and individual investors, particularly investors from the United States and Dubai, are showing great interest in this process. My primary objective is to build and administer hotels in Sofia, Sarajevo and Kosovo. Afterward, our group aims to expand in Europe,” he added. “We have signed a contract for land in Sofia. We would like to expand on a regional basis. In this respect, I would like to open a hotel in [Bosnia and Herzegovina’s] Mostar,” Üstündağ said. “Our group also aims to open a shopping center in Villakent project, which is comprised of 2,800 villas in Büyükçekmece’s Tepekent district. We plan to start the project this year and complete it within one year,” he added. Üstündağ underlined that he preferred to invest in Istanbul for the construction of hotels, while the majority of investors who are involved in the tourism business opt to realize investments in the southern regions of the country. “Because, I believe that city hotels will be profitable in the future. As a result, I constructed the first five-star hotel on the Asian side of the city. We also opened our hotel in Bostancı in 2001,” said Üstündağ. “This hotel attained an occupancy rate of 95 percent and evolved into a hotel with 25 meeting rooms and 400 bed capacity. There are 18 hotel projects for the Asian side of the city at the moment, and I believe that the area has the capacity for 18 more projects,” he added. “Meanwhile, Eyüp, Küçükçekmece and Balat are the major districts that I would certainly like to construct a hotel in,” Üstündağ said.
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