Husnu Ozyegin Tops Forbes 2012 List of Turkey’s Richest People

Husnu Ozyegin, the billionaire who sold Finansbank AS (FINBN) to National Bank of Greece SA in 2006 for about $5 billion, is the richest person in Turkey with a net worth of $3 billion, said the editor-in-chief of Forbes Turkey.

Ozyegin, the chairman of Fiba Holding AS, rose from second slot last year while Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, founding partner of Turkey’s biggest mobile operator Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL), fell to second place with an estimated net worth of $2.9 billion down from $4 billion last year, Burcak Guven said at a news conference in Istanbul today.

Karamehmet’s net worth declined as Turkcell, in which his holding company Cukurova Holding AS has 13.7 percent, lost about 26 percent of its market value over the past year, Guven said. Murat Ulker, chairman of Yildiz Holding AS which makes Godiva chocolates, held his position as the country’s third richest person with net worth of about $2.8 billion, Guven said.

Wealth figures represent the minimum value of assets the people have in Turkey and abroad, she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ercan Ersoy in Istanbul at eersoy@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net