According to the International Direct Investments Report 2009 prepared by the Turkish Undersecretariat of the Treasury, Dutch companies topped the list of foreign companies investing in Turkey. The country received foreign investments, worth USD 7.7 billion, in 2009, a year largely dominated by a deep global recession. The share of the Netherlands reached 15.1 percent in the FDI inflow to Turkey, followed by Austria, France, Luxembourg and Germany.

The retail and real-estate developer Multi Turkmall, a partnership between Multi Corp. and Corio, scored first place in Dutch investments in Turkey. Meanwhile, 15 percent of the total funds used for Russian oil giant Lukoil’s acquisition of Turkish fuel-oil company Akpet were transferred from the Netherlands.

The report, referring to the effects of the global economic crisis as the reason for the drop in FDI in comparison to previous years, mentions the increasing foreign interest in Turkey’s property market. While USD 1.8 billion worth of immovables were sold to foreigners in 2009, the total value of property sold to foreigners since 2002 was more than USD 14 billion, according to the report.