ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

--- CONTENT--
Vestel Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., better known as Vestel, is a Turkish company based in Istanbul, operating in the production of consumer electronics and household appliances, controlled by Zorlu Holding.

Founded in 1983, it is one of the largest industrial companies in the country, and one of the largest companies in its sector worldwide, which operates with numerous brands.

History
The company was founded in Istanbul on March 4, 1983 under the name Ferguson Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., Turkish subsidiary of British company Thorn EMI, consumer electronics manufacturer with the Ferguson brand. A short time later his social reason in Star Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. In April 1984, the majority of the shares were recorded by British Polly Peck of Turkish Cypriot magnate Asil Nadir, and the company again changed social reason in Vestel Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş..

In 1985, the plant was opened in Manisa, in the western part of the country, for the production of televisions. The following year, in 1986, the company Telkom, producer of television tuners and remote controls, was found, and Vestel later entered the IT sector with the establishment of Veskom in 1987, for the commercial distribution of computers and peripherals in Turkey, and the following year, in 1988, as a monitor manufacturer for IBM. In 1989, Vestel joined the home appliance industry with the constitution in Manisa della Pekel, a joint-venture along with the Italian Merloni Electrical Appliances and Philco Italia.

On 27 June 1990, Vestel was listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. A year later, in 1991, Polly Peck transferred all its shares owned in Vestel to its subsidiary, the BV Holding Company based in the Netherlands and in the same year, following the bankruptcy of the British holding, the company is placed in subsidiary administration. In 1994, the majority shares of Vestel owned by Polly Peck, 82%, were recorded by the industrial group Zorlu Holding. The acquisition by Zorlu has significant effects on the increase in the production capacity of Vestel, which passes from 400,000 television equipment assembled in that year to 1,2 million in 1996, put on the market with the same name in the internal market and with different brands in the foreign market, in particular in the countries of the European Union. In 1995, the share of participation in Pekel was ceded to the Merloni Group. The production of household appliances was resumed two years later, in 1997, with the birth of the relative division, Vestel Beyaz Eşya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., initially limited to air conditioners and refrigerators. In 1999, the restructuring of Vestel became a parent company with its subsidiaries and divisions. The following year, in 2000, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The same