Sabancı’s Big Game: 5 Insights from the 2025 Reports That Reveal a Transformation
Introduction: The Story Beyond the Numbers
Corporate activity reports are often perceived as dense, number-heavy documents that are difficult to interpret. As analysts, our goal is to look beyond the headline figures and uncover the strategic narrative underneath.
In the case of Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding’s nine-month reports for 2025, that narrative is one of deep, calculated reinvention. The documents contain powerful clues that go beyond financial data — revealing that the Holding is undergoing a fundamental transformation, walking into the future under new leadership, and taking high-risk, long-term bets on the new economy, even at the cost of short-term profitability.
This article distills the five most striking and insightful takeaways hidden between the lines — the ones that best illustrate Sabancı’s transformation story. Let’s explore them together.
1. An Earthquake at the Top: A Quarter-Century of Leadership Comes to an End
In 2025, Sabancı Holding experienced a dramatic leadership transition — one that signaled the start of a new era in the Group’s strategic direction.
First, after more than twenty years at the helm, Güler Sabancı stepped down as Chairperson of the Board at the Ordinary General Assembly on March 27, 2025, closing a historic chapter. She was succeeded by Hayri Çulhacı, who assumed the role of Chairperson and Executive Member of the Board.
Shortly thereafter came a second major change: on May 31, 2025, CEO Cenk Alper resigned, and as of June 1, 2025, Kıvanç Zaimler, known for his success in the energy business line, took over as CEO.
A double change of this magnitude — at both the Chair and CEO levels within a few months — is a clear signal that Sabancı is entering a period of strategic renewal and realignment.
This new leadership team inherits a complex financial landscape — one where topline growth masks significant structural pressures that the new management is now tasked with accelerating and reshaping.
2. Growing Revenue, Falling Profit: What the Numbers Really Say
At first glance, Sabancı Holding’s financial statements appear contradictory — but a closer look reveals a deeper story of transformation.
As of September 30, 2025, the Holding’s consolidated revenues rose 2% year-on-year, reaching TL 846.8 billion. Yet despite this growth, the Holding reported a consolidated net loss of TL 788.7 million attributable to the parent company’s shareholders.
The key to this paradox lies not in the headline figures, but in the performance of individual business segments.
The Energy Group posted an 11% increase in operating profit, swinging from a net loss of TL 1.2 billion last year to a net profit of TL 7.8 billion. This strong performance sharply contrasts with the Materials Technologies Group, where net profit fell from TL 5.4 billion to TL 2.2 billion, largely due to flooding at Kordsa’s Indonesian plant, which disrupted its tire reinforcement operations.
Thus, the current unprofitability should not be read as an operational failure, but rather as the financial reflection of large-scale, deliberate investments — the most ambitious of which is Sabancı’s hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in the U.S. renewable energy market.
3. A Giant Leap Toward the Future: A Multimillion-Dollar Bet on U.S. Solar Energy
Sabancı Holding is backing its “new economy–focused growth” and “sustainability” goals with bold, tangible actions.
The most ambitious of these is its massive entry into the U.S. renewable energy market through its wholly owned subsidiary, Sabancı Ä°klim Teknolojileri A.Åž. (Sabancı Climate Technologies). Via its U.S. arm Sabancı Renewables Inc., the Holding acquired two major solar power projects in Texas — the Pepper Solar Farm and the Lucky 7 Solar Farm — thereby strengthening its global presence in renewable energy.
With these latest additions, the company’s total U.S. renewable portfolio will reach 790 MW, underlining its ambition to play a serious role in the global energy transition — not just within Turkey.
This determination is further backed by a significant capital allocation: USD 238.8 million has been invested to date, with an additional USD 154.4 million approved for investment by 2027 — bringing the total strategic commitment to around USD 393 million.
This leadership shift, therefore, was not merely symbolic; it also acted as the catalyst for a deeper organizational redesign, intended to sharpen the Holding’s focus and dismantle outdated silos.
4. More Than a Leadership Shift: Reinventing the Corporate Structure
The winds of transformation at Sabancı are not confined to the top management — the Holding is overhauling its organizational structure to become more agile and focus-driven.
This confirms that the leadership transition is not cosmetic, but part of a deeper strategic reinvention.
The termination of the Mobility Solutions Group Presidency on April 30, 2025, is one clear example. From a portfolio management perspective, this move integrates mobility-linked assets such as Brisa into a broader Materials Technologies focus, while bringing retail giants Teknosa and Carrefoursa under a central Strategy and Business Development unit for tighter oversight.
Similarly, on June 20, 2025, the Digital Group Presidency was restructured and linked directly to the CEO — a strategic step aimed at enhancing synergy with the high-priority Energy business line.
These actions reflect the Holding’s determination to shed bureaucratic layers and commit more tightly to its goal of “growing core businesses and investing in new growth platforms.”
5. Even Giants Stumble: Floods and Competition Investigations
The reports also demonstrate that even an industrial titan like Sabancı must navigate simultaneous challenges on multiple fronts.
The first came from Kordsa’s Indonesian subsidiary, PT Indo Kordsa, where severe flooding damaged production facilities and forced a temporary halt. The event underscored the unpredictability of global operational risks — though subsequent details confirm that crisis management was effective: the polyester yarn plant resumed operations in May, followed by the nylon yarn plant in June.
The second challenge emerged in the retail segment, where both Carrefoursa and Teknosa became subjects of Competition Authority investigations. These cases highlight the intense regulatory and competitive pressures that define Turkey’s retail market.
Together, these incidents underscore a crucial reality: even conglomerates of Sabancı’s scale must demonstrate resilience in the face of both natural crises and complex legal challenges.
Conclusion: Winds of Transformation
These five insights paint the picture of not a static giant, but a long-established institution undergoing a calculated, sometimes painful metamorphosis.
Sabancı Holding is deliberately trading today’s certainty for tomorrow’s leadership in the new economy. Its new leadership vision, bold investments in future industries, drive for organizational agility, and the challenges faced along the way will together shape the Group’s destiny in the years ahead.
The essential question that remains is this:
How will these bold moves and profound transformations redefine Sabancı Holding — and its role in Turkey’s economy — over the next decade?