Mikhail Lomtadze to chair board of Turkish Hepsiburada

Mikhail Lomtadze, a majority shareholder in Kaspi.kz (owning 21.53% of the company’s shares), has been appointed chairman of the board at Hepsiburada, one of Turkey’s largest marketplaces, the company said in a statement.

The decision to nominate Lomtadze was made on Feb. 1, a day after Kaspi.kz acquired a 65.41% stake in Hepsiburada.

As part of the deal with Hanzade Doğan, the marketplace’s founder and former controlling shareholder, Kaspi.kz purchased 40 million Class A shares and 173.2 million Class B shares in D-Market Electronic Services & Trading, the legal entity operating the Hepsiburada brand.

The $ 1.127-billion deal was approved by Turkish authorities. Kaspi.kz is expected to pay $600 million in cash upon closing the deal, while the remaining $526.9 million will be paid within six months. Both companies will retain their brand names and remain operationally independent.

Hepsiburada is preparing to expand into Africa, starting with Egypt, followed by Morocco. According to Statista, in 2023, Hepsiburada ranked third among online retailers in Turkey, behind Migros and Trendyol, the country’s largest marketplace.

In addition to Lomtadze, Kaspi.kz is owned by Vyacheslav Kim (20.39%), Baring Funds (23.51%) and a group of investors holding stakes under 5% (34.57%).