Turkish Billionaire Dogan in Talks to Buy Sabanci’s Mitsubishi Dealership

(Bloomberg) -- Turkish billionaire Aydin Dogan wants to expand his car business by buying the distributor of Mitsubishi vehicles in the country.

Dogan Sirketler Grubu Holding AS is in preliminary talks to acquire Temsa Motorlu Araclar Pazarlama ve Dagitim AS, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not be identified as the talks are private. Temsa, as the company is known, is owned by Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS.

Representatives for Dogan Holding and Sabanci Holding declined to comment.

Dogan Holding shares rose as high as 1.2% while Sabanci Holding shares rose as much as 1.5% in Istanbul, beating 1% gain the benchmark index in Borsa Istanbul on Thursday at 11:26 a.m.

The 82-year-old’s holding company, which has interests in energy, real estate and tourism, is seeking new avenues of growth after it hived off its media assets last year. Dogan Holding, which is also looking at starting an investment bank, already owns distributors of vehicles made by Suzuki Motor Corp., Piaggio & C. SpA and Paccar Inc.

Sabanci’s Temsa has been up for sale since at least 2015 as the conglomerate exits some businesses. Sabanci has sold its stake in bus maker Temsa Ulasim to a private equity firm, and divested its holding in construction machinery operator Temsa Is Makinalari to Marubeni Corp.

To contact the reporters on this story: Asli Kandemir in Istanbul at akandemir@bloomberg.net;Ercan Ersoy in Istanbul at eersoy@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, ;Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, ;Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam at sbhaktavatsa@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels

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