By Ercan Ersoy - Reuters - Turkish company valuations at double those of peers augur another challenging year for mergers and acquisitions, leaving the country more dependent on so-called hot money to finance its current-account shortfall. M&A deals, which last year fell to 30 percent of their pre- financial crisis average, may struggle to overcome an increase in prices, according to Istanbul-based buyout firms Unlu & Co. and Turkven Private Equity. The enterprise value of listed Turkish companies is 9.5 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, more than double Russia and Poland, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index multiple is 7.4.
ISTANBUL — Tens of thousands of protesters called for the resignation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and fought police firing tear gas in central Istanbul for the second day Saturday. A defiant Erdogan declared he would not back down from a controversial construction project that set off the protests, but then called off the police. Denouncing protesters as “entirely ideological,” Erdogan vowed in a speech to go ahead with plans to build a replica of an Ottoman-era barracks on what is now parkland off of Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul’s downtown. But he conceded there had been excessive use of tear gas and that citizens had the right to express their views.
Istanbul was rocked by a violent police crackdown Friday when Turkish police moved in on the thousands of demonstrators who have been protesting in a downtown park since Monday. Reuters reports that police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters in Gezi Park around dawn; 100 sustained minor injuries. But if some of the messages circulating on social networks are any indication, the so-called occupiers may persist, even now that the park is clear: more than 61,000 tweets have been sent with the hashtag #geziparkı, and photos and videos from the crackdown are trending worldwide. In fact, as of 11 a.m. on Friday, five of the 11 trending terms on Twitter related to the protests.
New York — AP - Friends and strangers came to pay their respects Thursday to a New York mother of two who was killed while vacationing alone in Turkey. The viewing for Sarai Sierra was held at Christian Pentecostal Church on Staten Island on Valentine's Day, which marked the 15th anniversary of Sierra's engagement to husband Steven, a New York City bus driver. The 33-year-old Sierra disappeared Jan. 21, and her body was discovered 12 days later near Istanbul's ancient city walls. Police say she suffered a fatal blow to the head.
