The Turkish franchise of McDonald's is be sold by Turkey's Anadolu Group Holding.

It said on January 30 that all shares of Anadolu Restoran, which includes the franchise, are to be purchased by Birlesik Holding.

In a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange, Anadolu Group Holding said a share purchase agreement had been signed with Birlesik, with the transfer of shares likely to occur in the first quarter of this year after the Competition Authority approves the transaction

The equity value of Anadolu Restaurant was determined as Turkish lira (TRY) 280,739,431 ($47.42mn), the company added.

In May last year, Anadolu Group Holding said it was authorising an investment bank or a securities firm to work on strategic options for Anadolu Restoran conduct talks with third parties. Options for McDonald’s operations were being considered as part of its strategy of “evaluating the assets in our portfolio with maximum efficiency”, it also said at the time.

According to a presentation to investors posted on the company’s website prior to the announcement, there were 255 McDonald’s restaurants across Turkey with some 6,000 employees, serving more than 100mn customers annually.

Operations from the McDonald’s chain in Turkey generated TRY768mn in revenues in 2018.

Founded in 1950, Anadolu Group operates in a wide range of sectors, including beer (Efes), soft drinks (Coca-Cola), retail (Migros), agriculture, automotive (Anadolu Isuzu), stationery, quick service restaurants, real estate and energy.

The holding company’s consolidated revenues amounted to TRY42bn in 2018.