Turkey’s food giant Ülker takes on another Japanese partner, DyDo Drinco

After becoming partners with Japanese noodle giant Nissin Food, Ülker - one of Turkey's largest food companies- is set to sell three of its beverage producers to Japan's DyDo Drinco, announced the Japanese company on Thursday.

According to the information on the website of the Japanese beverage giant, DyDo Drinco will spend about 335 million lira ($110 million) to buy stakes of 90% in each unit by February 2016.

DyDo will become the principal stockholder of the three Turkish beverage companies (Della Gıda, İlk Meyve Suları Pazarlama and Bahar Su). The three offer a total of eight drink brands, including carbonated beverages like Turkish coke brand Cola Turka and fruit juice.

The trio posted an impressive 334 million lira ($110 million) in sales in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.

The website also stated that Ülker will retain shares in all three companies and plans to transfer its sales network and some employees to DyDo.

DyDo President Tomiya Takamatsu, who attended a news conference in Osaka on Thursday, said that they also want to produce 'coffee, black tea and energy drinks locally in Turkey' in the near future.

With this move, the Japanese company plans to break into the growing Turkish market and from there enter European markets.

Ülker, already a partner of a number of European and US companies, had previously inked a deal in 2011 with the largest noodle producer in the world, Nissin food, its first Japanese partner.

The Turkish company had also joined forces with other mega firms including Hero Baby, Laurens Spethman Holding, Kellogg's and Eckes-Granini Group and in 2010 had signed agreements with Holland's Ice Cream BV, Germany's Eckes-Granini for fruit juice as well as the United States spice company McCormick.

Ülker is owned by Yıldız Holding which previously purchased Belgium's Godiva Chocolatier.