BBM Magazine Issue-Sayı: 46 September/October - Eylül/Ekim 2021

78 ARTICLE • MAKALE BBM / EYLÜL - EKİM 2021 • SEPTEMBER - October 2021 tion in its own factory as the one we do in our partner factory. We both were making good money. No problems arose. As Pendik Nişasta, we used to pay licenses to Cerestar for some productions. After this partnership, we didn't pay licenses any- more and the business continued like this for years. THE STORY OF PENDİK NİŞASTA But for the first time, a partner and we couldn't like each other. I don't know whether it's for the reasons I mentioned above. Let me explain why; I explained above. In the 1980s, the investment of a global company called CPC and Vaniköy, a 100% domestic company, used to process corn and produce glucose. In the end, only Vaniköy (Süleymangil Family) survived and glucose was be- ing sold at exorbitant prices. The family had made a new in- vestment for capacity increase, but they were in a financial stalemate. Kent (Yakup Tahincioğlu) and we (Ülker), its two big customers, became partners of the company to maintain the investment because this vertical integration investment was essential for supply and cost matters. But later, as a result of family discord, they transferred their majority shares to Cargill, which made a very tempting offer to enter Turkey. At that time, Cargill (A. Blankenstein) told us that they will make an attrac- tive payment to us adding that they would not recommend us to stay with them. I didn't understand him then. But right before the first Eid Al-Fitr, they had made a hefty increase in glucose prices. This put us all in a difficult position because or- ders were taken before the holiday, prices had been already fixed. We took Cerestar as a partner and established Pendik Nişasta Sanayi İşletmesi as a strategic business because of such monopolistic attitudes. We even received incentives as "Strategic Investment". It was the first comprehensive starch and derivatives manufacturing company in the country. But alas, Cargill later acquired Cerestar and we willy-nilly became a 50/50 partner. Our strategic investment went for nothing. Pendik remained an efficient, profitable but stale business and our share was finally sold. May it do the acquirer good! For example, another family company, Arcor, is an Argentin- ian company. A large chocolate confectionery company. It is very successful, especially in Latin America. Because in Ar- gentina, sugar is 250 dollars per ton, in Turkey it is 1000 dol- lars. It is not feasible to import it, too. Of course, we have to do agriculture in our country and protect the sugar farmers, but if we want competitive industry and employment growth, we must make agriculture competitive as well. If sugar becomes this expensive compared to the world, all prices will increase because sugar is the input of all food. It is a main source of en- ergy. If you make sugar expensive, you cause great injustice to the low-income people who work with muscle power and need more energy. Let me return to our partnership. When we decided to pro- kasında, biz de ortak olduğumuz fabrikada yapıyoruz. İkimiz de iyi para kazanıyoruz. Hiçbir sorun çıkmıyor. Biz Pendik Nişasta olarak bazı imalatlar için Cerestar’a lisans ödüyorduk, artık lisans da ödemiyoruz, iş yıllarca böyle devam etti. PENDİK NİŞASTA’NIN HİKAYESİ Ama ilk kez bence yukarıda anlattığım nedenlerden mi bilmem, bir ortağım ile sevişemedik, niyesini anlatayım; Yukarıda izah etmiştim; 1980lerde ülkemizde CPC adlı global şirketin yatırımı ve %100 yerli Vaniköy şirketi mısır işler ve glikoz üretirdi. Nihayetinde sadece Vaniköy (Sü- leymangil Ailesi) ayakta kaldı ve glikoz fahiş fiyata satılır oldu. Kapasite artışı için aile yeni bir yatırıma girişmişti, ama mali çıkmaza girmişlerdi. İki büyük müşterisi olan Kent (Yakup Tahincioğlu) ve biz (Ülker) yatırıma devam etmek için şirkete ortak olduk. Zira tedarik ve maliyet açısından bu dikey entegrasyon yatırımı elzemdi. Fakat daha sonra aile içi anlaşmazlık neticesinde Türkiye’ye girmek için çok cazip bir teklif veren Cargill şirketine çoğunluk hisselerini devretmişlerdi. O vakit Cargill (A. Blankenstein) bize, iyi para veririz, bizimle ortak kalmanı- zı tavsiye etmem demişti, anlamamıştım. Fakat gelen ilk Şeker Bayramının hemen öncesi glikoza yüklü bir zam