Tech giant Alibaba is among a group of large Chinese companies considering investment opportunities in Turkey now that the country’s assets have seen their prices cut amid a plummeting lira, industry sources told Reuters.
The companies have been engaging in talks with Turkish representatives for several months following the peak of Turkey’s currency crisis, the sources said.
“We met four Chinese groups in just a week. They held more than 20 meetings,” said one source. He added that the talks had been backed by top US investment banks.
Turkey’s infrastructure, mining, energy, retail, and insurance industries are among those that have received the most interest, three sources agreed.
The Turkish lira has lost 40% of its value in 2018 due to markets’ distrust of President Erdogan’s domestic economic policies and tense relationship with the US.