Gemax and Turkish giant Taca to form joint venture to conquer Balkan's construction market

The Gemax company and one of the largest construction companies in Turkey, Taca, signed Wednesday an agreement on strategic cooperation, which will enable them to operate together in the construction markets of Serbia and the region. The agreement provides for the establishment of a joint venture to make it easier to win contracts and employ Serbian construction workers on high-rise building and civil engineering projects, primarily those aimed at infrastructure development. Thanks to the agreement, 600 workers from Serbia will be hired. The value of projects to be implemented by the Serbian-Turkish company is estimated at EUR 250 million per year. The agreement, which has no expiry date, implies that Serbia's Gemax will provide manpower, materials and machines

When signing the agreement, Djordjo Antelj, the founder of Gemax, pointed out it was a very significant business move not only for Gemax, but also for the entire construction industry in Serbia.

- Thanks to impressive references of the Taca company, which is famous for top-quality construction in the short term, Serbian construction industry will find it easier to close deals in Serbia and the region. The aim is to use such partnerships to allow for construction companies in Serbia to equally participate in all tenders under the auspices of the European Union and other large investors - Antelj said and underlined that their analyses had shown that the construction sector would go through a strong recovery in late 2013 and early 2014 owing to financial incentives from the Serbian government combined with deregulation measures.

Investment in the construction industry is expected to grow to about 5 percent this year and approximately 7 percent in 2014.

Djordjo Antelj pointed out that the initial value of announced investments in Serbia's construction sector was at about EUR 500 million, adding that they would directly and indirectly lead to the creation of minimum 10,000 new jobs.

Tayyar Akkurt, the director and owner of Taca, said that that company had decided to enter into cooperation with Gemax because it was the largest private construction company with a tradition spanning over 20 years.

- We believe that our rich experience and financial stability will facilitate our successful operations in the construction market in Serbia and ex-Yugoslav countries. We find markets in the region and Serbia very interesting, considering the expected development of infrastructure facilities and high-rise building projects - Akkurt stressed.

Taca is one of the largest Turkish construction companies that mainly operates in the territory of former SSSR and Lybia in addition to Turkey. During 60 years of existence, Taca has implemented projects in record terms, which is one of its basic specificities. Among the facilities built by Taca is a large number of luxury hotels, big shopping centers and impressive congress centers.