Diageo has agreed a deal to buy Turkish spirits company Mey Içki for around £1.3BN from investment capital firm TPG Capital, in a cash & debt-funded deal. As Turkey's leading spirits producer & distributor, Mey Içki recorded net sales of TL766m (£300m) in the year ending December 31 2010, & is a native market leader in vodka, while Diageo said its strength in vodka was also appealing. Global drinks player Diageo said the investment would allow it to tap an increasingly affluent Turkish middle class in an "attractive emerging market," using Mey Içki's distribution & customer relationships in the country. Diageo insists that Mey Içki is a high growth, high margin business, & Paul Walsh, CEO, said: "This investment represents the continuation of our strategy to increase Diageo's presence in those emerging markets, such as China & Vietnam, which have a rapidly growing middle class."
