Doğuş Group

Doğuş Holding A.Ş. (Doğuş Group) is one of the largest private-sector conglomerates in Turkey, with a portfolio of 250 companies in 7 industries, including high-end car dealerships, retail stores, restaurants, cafes, construction companies, radio stations, TV channels and tourism businesses. The group used to own one of Turkey's largest private banks, Garanti, now part of BBVA.

Background
Its foundations were originally laid in 1951 when Ayhan Şahenk made his first investments in the construction sector and transformed Doğuş Construction into a leading builder of Turkish roads, ports and hospitals. Doğuş Construction was founded June 17, 1966, the same year Antur Tourism was founded and Club Alantur in Alanya was acquired. He diversified into banking in the late 1970s. While Turkey evolved from a state-controlled economy toward market capitalism in the 1980s, he branched into importing and joint ventures in automotive, tourism and food, with giants like Volkswagen, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, and ConAgra.

In 1989 Ayhan Şahenk's son, Ferit Şahenk, returned to Istanbul. His father sent him to apprentice at Garanti Bank (now Garanti BBVA). After eight years, he moved to the holding company and has kept adding pieces. Beginning in 1998 he acquired two food retail chains and operated NTV, funding the expansion by selling part of the group's Garanti Bank to the public. Understanding that top talent is essential to running a diverse group, he also created a recruitment division, Humanitas. In 1999, annual revenue of Doğuş Group hit US$5.7 billion.

In April 2001, Ferit took over Doğuş after his father Ayhan Şahenk died at the age of 72. He relinquished some control of the Garanti Bank, selling a quarter of the country's third largest bank to General Electric for $1.6 billion in 2004, which was regarded as an important step towards greater liberalization in the Turkish banking sector, which had been severely affected by the 2001 economic crisis. He also runs Turkish media properties capturing more than 10 percent of country's advertising market.

Characteristics and structure
The Doğuş Group is active in 7 sectors, including automotive, construction, tourism and media.

With over 21,000 employees serving more than 5 million customers, the Group's objective is to use human resources and its superior technological capital to create brand value that will ensure customer loyalty and regional growth through global cooperation.

In 2018, in the course of the Turkish currency and debt crisis, 2018, the group asked its lenders for a debt restructuring. Doğuş’ outstanding loans stood at the equivalent of TRY 23.5 billion (US$5.81 billion) at the end 2017, up 11 percent from the year before. In the wake of the crisis, Doğuş divested some of its assets for deleveraging. Some of these divested assets are the Capri Palace Hotel, a 42% stake in İstinye Park shopping mall, MB92 superyacht refit center  and its premium yacht marinas branded under D-Marin.

Projects and interests

In 2013, Doğuş Group won a public tender to construct Galataport, a cruise ship port in Karaköy, Istanbul, in a joint venture with Bilgili Holding. 

As part of the Galataport development, Doğuş Group became a major sponsor to İstanbul Modern, alongside Eczacıbaşı Group, and developed the new Renzo Piano designed building.

D.ream (Doğuş Restaurant Entertainment and Management) is a majority shareholder of Nusr-Et Group, which became a global success story due to its eponymous chef Nusret Gökçe (Salt Bae).

List of Group Companies

Automotive 
 Doğuş Automotive: exclusive distributor for Volkswagen Group brands in Turkiye (Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, SEAT, Skoda, Scania)
 DOD: second-hand sales arm of the group
 vdf / Volkswagen Doğuş Finans: auto financing arm of the group
 TÜVTÜRK

Construction 

Doğuş Construction
 Teknik Engineering and Consultancy

Media 
 Television Channels: NTV, NTV Para, NTV Spor, NTV World, Star TV, Star 2, Euro Star, Kral TV, Kral Pop TV, Kral World TV, e-TV, e2, e-Film
 Radio Stations: NTV Radyo, NTV Para Radyo, NTV Spor Radyo, NTV World Radio, Kral FM, Kral Pop Radyo, Kral World Radio, Radyo Eksen, Radyo Voyage
 Newspapers: Star, Star Daily News
 OTT Platform: puhutv
 Digital Platform: Star Digital
 Live Events: Pozitif, Volkswagen Arena, Babylon, Yapıkredi Bomontiada

Food & Beverage, Tourism and Retail 
 D.ream Türkiye: 29, Adile Sultan Sarayı Kandilli, Borsa Restaurant, Da Mario Ristorante, Delimonti, Dolce, Fenix, Frankie, Gina, Günaydın, Habupide, Kebapçı Etiler, Kitchenette, Kilimanjaro, Kiva, Lacivert, Liman İstanbul, Masa, Mezzaluna, Monochrome, Parlé, Rüya, Sait, The Populist, Vogue Restaurant
 D.ream International: Azumi Group (Zuma, Roka, Inko Nito, Etaru, Oblix), Paraguas Group (Amazónico, El Paraguas, Numa Pompilio, Ten Con Ten, Quintin, Aarde), Nusret Group (Nusr-Et Steakhouse, Saltbae Burger), Coya
 D-Hotelier
 D-Maris Bay
 D-Resort Göcek
 D-Resort Ayvalık
 Maçakızı Bodrum
 Hyatt House Gebze
 Grand Hyatt İstanbul
 Soho House İstanbul
 Argos In Cappadocia
 Chenot Palace Weggis
 Hotel Aldrovandi Villa Borghese
 D-Saat: representing Hublot, Arnold & Son, HYT, Döttling, Bell & Ross, Breitling, Messika and Vacheron Constantin through mono-brand boutiques or “Quadran” branded multi-brand boutiques
 D-Retail: representing Eleventy, Leica, Loro Piana, M Missoni, Kiko and Under Armour through mono-brand boutiques or “in-formal” branded multi-brand boutiques
 Antur Tourism

Real estate 
 Doğuş REIT: publicly traded on Borsa Istanbul under the ticker symbol DGGYO
 Doğuş Real Estate

Technology 
Doğuş Teknoloji
Related Digital
Reidin
Invendo
Zingat

Energy 
 Boyabat Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş.: a 513MW HPP in a JV with Doğan Holding and Unit International
 Doğuş Enerji Üretim ve Ticaret. A.Ş.: a 332MW HPP wholly-owned by Doğuş Group
 Aslancık Elektrik Üretim A.Ş.: a 120MW HPP in a JV with Doğan Holding and Anadolu Group

Other Investments 
Zubizu
D-Gym
n11.com
 Körfez Havacılık
 Galataport İstanbul

Notes

External links
 Doğuş Group Official Website

Conglomerate companies of Turkey
Companies based in Istanbul
Doğuş Group
Holding companies of Turkey
1951 establishments in Turkey
Companies established in 1951