Integrated Annual Report 2025
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#100Years
#Transformation
#Century
#Future
#Sustainability
#Growth
#AI
#Digital
#Agility
#Foresight
From cotton trading in 1925 to shaping a sustainable future
Our story begins in 1925, when Hacı Ömer Sabancı moved to Adana and started trading cotton.
This was the first spark of an entrepreneurial spirit that would help build Türkiye’s modern industrial landscape.
Through early ventures in textiles, oil, and finance including the founding of Akbank in 1948, Sabancı created a foundation based on trust, hard work, and vision.
- Hacı Ömer Sabancı begins cotton trade in Adana (1925), laying the foundation for Türkiye’s industrialization.
- Entry into textiles, agriculture, and oil processing.
- Establishment of Akbank (1948) marks diversification into finance.
- Expansion into flour and cotton ginning reflects Türkiye’s early industrial momentum.
The establishment of Sabancı Holding in 1967 marked a new era, one of national industrial leadership.
From cement and tires to insurance and automotive, Sabancı’s portfolio grew in step with Türkiye’s economic development.
Partnerships with global leaders such as Bridgestone and Heidelberg Materials elevated manufacturing standards, while the founding of Bimsa in 1975 positioned Sabancı among Türkiye’s technology pioneers.
By the 1997 IPO, Sabancı had become a symbol of modern corporate governance and scale. The new millennium brought a global outlook with active portfolio management through selected industries with scale, competitive advantage and governance maturity.
- Family enterprises consolidated into an integrated group (1967).
- Launch of core industrial brands: Kordsa (1973), Çimsa (1972), Temsa (1968).
- Establishment of Bimsa (1975), an information consulting service provider marking Sabancı’s early entry into the information technology services
- Expansion into cement, tires, materials, insurance, and automotive sectors.
- Akbank’s IPO (1990): Setting benchmark for bank IPOs
- Key joint ventures: Brisa-Bridgestone (1988) and Akçansa-Heidelberg Materials (1996) position Sabancı as a regional industrial powerhouse.
- Enerjisa Enerji founded (1996)
- Sabancı Holding IPO (1997) cements transparency and corporate governance leadership.
- The Sabancı Foundation (1974) institutionalized the Group’s commitment to social responsibility,education, arts, and equal opportunity, while Sabancı University (1996) embodied its dedication to knowledge, research, innovation, and independent thinking.
- Gradual exit from non-core areas such as automotive, cotton and cardboard.
- Launch of Teknosa (2000), Sabancı’s first major consumer technology venture.
Foundation of Energy Group, anchoring further diversification in the portfolio. Enerjisa’s partnership with E.ON redefined Türkiye’s private energy landscape.
Ageas partnerships in Aksigorta and Agesa embedded European best practices in financial services.
This era also strengthened the Group’s social fabric with initiatives like Sabancı Volunteers, proving that purpose and performance go hand in hand.
Sabancı emerged as a transparent, reliable, and internationally respected investment holding.
- Creation of Energy Group (2006), partnered with Verbund (2007), capital investment in distribution assets, later partnered with E.ON (2013), Türkiye’s leading private energy platform.
- Partnerships with Ageas in Aksigorta (2011) and Agesa (Avivasa, 2021).
- Global growth of Kordsa in composites and materials.
- The Sakıp Sabancı Museum (2002) deepened the Group’s role in arts and culture, preserving heritage for future generations.
- Launch of Sabancı Volunteers (2014), Group-wide employee engagement model.
- Corporate governance deepening and international recognition for transparency and responsibility.
- Value crystallizations through IPOs of Group companies: Teknosa, Kordsa, Agesa.
- Exits from polymer and food production.
In this period, Sabancı reshaped its portfolio for a sustainable and digital future and took its first steps around new economy.
Bimsa evolved into SabancıDx in 2018, driving digital transformation through advanced analytics and AI-based solutions that support sustainability goals.
The establishment of the Board Sustainability Committee and Sustainability Leadership Committee, along with the launch of Responsible Investment Policy, signaled a systemic integration of ESG into governance.
The launch of Sabancı Ventures and a Net Zero 2050 commitment set the stage for purposedriven growth across all business lines.
- New generation strategy introduced with renewed Capital Allocation Framework.
- Focus strategy iniated around energy assets - separation of distribution and generation assets (2018).
- Turnaround in Energy with Enerjisa Enerji IPO (2018) and deleveraging electricity generation business for growth investments.
- Strengthened presence in advanced materials, energy, and digital infrastructure.
- Major U.S. acquisitions by Kordsa (FDI, TPI) and Axiom Materials (2019), strengthening global presence.
- Bimsa, Sabancı’s business and information consulting service provider, restructured as SabancıDx (2018) to drive digital transformation across the Group and Türkiye.
- SabancıDx’s advanced data analytics and AI-driven solutions became enablers for sustainability and operational efficiency across Group companies.
- Foundation of Sabancı Building Solutions (2020), a dedicated global platform for organic and inorganic growth in building materials.
- Sabancı Ventures (2020) initiates impact investment focus.
- Net Zero 2050 commitment announced.
- Sustainability priorities defined (2021) through Group-wide materiality analysis. ESG capabilities enhanced by establishing a dedicated Sustainability Team.
- Board Sustainability Committee and Sustainability Leadership Committee (2021) embed ESG into governance.
- Launch of Responsible Investment Policy.
- Move from local to global player: Çimsa’s white cement acquisition in Spain.
The years marking Sabancı’s centennial transformation represent one of the most ambitious chapters in its history.
The exit from the tobacco business symbolized a deliberate shift toward sustainability. New growth platforms, Sabancı Climate Technologies, Sabancı Renewables, and Dx BV in the Netherlands, expanded the Group’s international presence in renewables and digital infrastructure.
The establishment of the Digital SBU, alongside the Material Technologies Group, redefined the portfolio around sustainability, intelligence, and scale.
Investing in technology that improves lives, sustainability that drives measurable impact and actions that leave a lasting legacy for society, Sabancı is entering its second century with a clear vision.
- Exit from the tobacco business (2022), a defining sustainability milestone. Launch of Decarbonization program (2022).
- Brisa’s Arvento acquisition (2022), moving beyond tyres to data driven solutions.
- Kordsa’s Microtex acquisition, a key move for European expansion (2022).
- Sabancı Climate Technologies and Sabancı Renewables Inc. (U.S.) launched to build a renewable energy portfolio abroad.
- Secured 1,000 MW YEKA-2 Wind investment in Türkiye (2022).
- Cutlass II Solar in U.S. (272 MW) commissioned (2024).
- Hydrogen R&D launched with Enerjisa Üretim & Sabancı University; Türkiye’s first Green Hydrogen Valley initiated (2022).
- Dx Technology Services and Investment B.V. (Dx BV) established in the Netherlands (2022) to scale Sabancı’s digital ecosystem globally.
- Digital SBU (2023) formalized, integrating SabancıDx, Dx BV, Bulutistan (2024), evolved into fully consolidated platform under Sabancı, and emerging ventures.
- Çimsa’s entry into the U.S. (2023) with grey cement grinding investment. Çimsa acquires Mannok in Ireland (2024).
- Nature Pledge (2024) sets biodiversity, water, and circular economy targets; Social Agenda (2024–25) advances youth empowerment and inclusion.
- Secured 750 MW of Wind Capacity through YEKA-RES 2024 tender.
- Portfolio expansion through Oriana, Lucky 7, and Pepper Solar projects reaching 790 MW capacity (U.S.).
- Consolidation of Financial Services and Banking SBUs, Brisa moved under Material Technologies SBU, Temsa under Energy & Climate Technologies SBU, streamlined operations under Digital SBU to focus on digital investments.
- New Governance Model (2025) based on agility, collective intelligence, and ecosystem collaboration.
- 2025 marks the beginning of Sabancı’s second century, driven by the ambition to build a sustainable, digital, and scalable portfolio that invests in the infrastructure of the future.
Capital allocation, strategic design and partnership choices all reflect the same conviction: future growth is built on resilient foundations of responsibility and trust, but it demands expanded horizons and disruption-proof design. Across the network, Sabancı companies operate with agility, foresight, fluidity and connectedness, working hand in hand with stakeholders in collaborative innovation ecosystems. This is intelligence that leads the future: businesses that are digitally enabled, sustainability-led and globally scalable, so that Sabancı’s next century is defined not by reacting to change, but by helping to create the future it wants to see.
