Bulls Girişim cancels investment in single franchise outlet

Bulls Girişim Sermayesi Yatırım Ortaklığı A.Ş. has cancelled its decision to invest in Bulls Gıda Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, a company it had planned to establish with White Burger Gıda Sanayi Anonim Şirketi. According to a Hibya News Agency report dated 24 September 2026, based on a disclosure to Türkiye’s Public Disclosure Platform (KAP), the decision means abandoning the formation of a joint venture intended to open a single franchise outlet.

Two different decisions nine days apart

According to the disclosure reported by Hibya, Bulls Girişim Sermayesi had announced its decision to establish Bulls Gıda Ticaret A.Ş. in a regulatory disclosure dated 15 September 2026. The original plan envisaged a 50% stake in the company to be formed with White Burger Gıda Sanayi Anonim Şirketi. The proposed investment therefore involved establishing a new company and taking a stake in it.

The subsequent disclosure, covered in the report dated 24 September, confirmed that the plan would not proceed. Following the board’s assessment, the company decided to halt the incorporation process and abandon the formation of the joint venture. Nine days separate the initial announcement and the report of its cancellation.

This timeline highlights an important distinction between an announced investment and an operating business. The report concerns the abandonment of a company planned to open an outlet, not the closure of an existing franchise outlet. Describing the development as a closure or an exit from an existing partnership would therefore go beyond the information available.

Cancellation concerns a joint venture for one outlet

The disclosure states that the purpose of the investment was to open a single franchise outlet. The cancellation relates to Bulls Gıda Ticaret A.Ş., which was to be established for that purpose. For readers following Türkiye’s franchise sector, the key point is that a specific outlet project was halted at the company formation stage, rather than a large-scale store network being affected.

It is also important to distinguish between the companies involved. Bulls Girişim Sermayesi Yatırım Ortaklığı A.Ş. is the party announcing the investment decision; White Burger Gıda Sanayi Anonim Şirketi is the intended joint venture partner; and Bulls Gıda Ticaret A.Ş. is the company whose formation has been abandoned. Using these names interchangeably could lead to misunderstandings about the scope of the decision.

The 50% figure refers to Bulls Girişim Sermayesi’s intended stake in the proposed company. The available information provides no basis for interpreting this as the acquisition of a stake in White Burger’s existing business. Nor does the disclosure provide details of the investment amount, outlet location, opening schedule or expected sales volume.

It is therefore not possible to calculate the financial scale of the decision or its potential effect on local employment. The confirmed information is limited to the cancellation of the company formation plan, which envisaged a 50% stake, and the associated investment decision.

Steps will be taken to withdraw the incorporation application

According to Hibya’s account of the KAP disclosure, Bulls Girişim Sermayesi will carry out the necessary procedures to withdraw the incorporation application. This describes the administrative step accompanying the decision not to proceed with establishing the company. However, the report does not say that the withdrawal process has been completed.

The explanation for the decision is limited to the board’s assessment. No specific reason is given, such as rising costs, financing difficulties, disagreement between the parties or changing expectations of demand. Presenting any of these as the cause would be speculation rather than a disclosed fact.

Equally, this single decision is not enough to draw conclusions about White Burger’s other activities or broader investment trends in Türkiye’s franchise sector. The report does not describe changes affecting other outlets, partnerships or a wider investment programme. Keeping the development within the scope of the announced project gives investors and prospective franchisees a more accurate understanding.

Prospective franchisees should check the stage described in the disclosure

This news illustrates why it is important to identify which stage a disclosure describes when assessing a franchise investment. A decision to form a company, an announcement of an intended stake, an incorporation application and the actual opening of an outlet are not the same thing. In the Bulls Gıda case, the available information confirms the announcement of a company formation and shareholding plan, followed by its abandonment.

Prospective franchisees assessing an opportunity should not confuse a proposed ownership structure with an established partnership. In particular, the company’s legal name, the proposed stake and the project’s purpose should be read together, and subsequent disclosures should be checked for changes to the plan. In this case, the initial intention to take a 50% stake cannot be treated as a current investment without taking the later cancellation into account.

Practical takeaway: Before making a decision about a franchise project, review the latest disclosure as well as the initial investment announcement. In this case, the latest position is that the joint venture will not be established and that steps will be taken to withdraw the incorporation application.