ISTANBUL: The cement business of Turkey s Sabanci Holding expects its sales to rise 10-15 per cent this year and is looking for acquisition opportunities, its chief executive said.

Sabanci s cement group, consisting of cement companies Akcansa and Cimsa, posted a 16pc increase in sales to 2.5 billion lira ($980 million) in 2014, the cement unit s chief executive Hakan Gurdal said.

We are chasing opportunities for growth abroad. Financial structures of Akcansa and Cimsa are getting stronger, creating serious potential. We currently have the ability to borrow up to $1.5bn to fund an acquisition, Gurdal said.

Sabanci Holding was in a consortium that offered bids for some of the assets put up for sale by cement makers Lafarge and Holcim after their mega-merger. But Irish cement maker CRH agreed to buy the assets for 6.5bn euros.

Sabanci has long been interested in acquisitions, but has not bought any companies. Gurdal explained this was due to geopolitical risks in Turkey s neighbouring region.

Gurdal also said the group had an investment target of 300-330m lira, most of which would be invested in a factory in the Aegean province of Afyon. The factory is expected to start producing in May next year.