Istanbul, Jan 25 - Retailer Kipa, a unit of Britain's Tesco, said on Friday it plans to invest $1.5 billion over the next five years to expand the number of hypermarkets in Turkey's fast-growing market.
Kipa spokesman Gurcan Onol said the expansion would involve raising the total number of hypermarkets to 100 from the current 12.
Onol said Kipa also aimed to double revenues to $2 billion for the March 2008-March 2009 financial year, rising to $5 billion once all its new hypermarkets were operational.
Revenues in 2007 hit a target of $1 billion, Onol said, without providing further details.
Foreign interest has turned towards the consumer sector, which analysts say is among the most attractive in European Union candidate Turkey, as investors can benefit from a young, fast-growing population and increasing wealth amid economic growth around 5 percent.
Tesco is the third largest food merchant in the world after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and France's Carrefour.