Founded on 1 March 1961 by Statute 205, OYAK (Ordu Yardımlaşma Kurumu / Armed Forces Pension Fund) is a corporate entity entirely to the provisions of private law and is financially and administratively autonomus.
OYAK was Turkey's first and is still its biggest privately–owned pension fund. From the standpoint of the products and services that it offers members OYAK acts not only as a life and health insurer but also as a credit union.
OYAK's basic objectives are to provide its members with the best possible service and the highest possible returns on their savings. To accomplish this, the fund puts its assets to work in portfolio investments and by acquiring stakes in companies.
As of year-end 2006, OYAK had more than 230 thousand members.
In July 2006, the international rating organization Moody's Investors Service raised the Ba2 long-term foreign currency and local currency ratings of OYAK to Ba2, one grade higher than its Ba3 country rating, while announcing a "stable" outlook for both ratings.
In March 2007, Standart & Poor's announced that it had raised OYAK's long-term corporate rating to "BB", which is higher than its "BB-" long-term foreign currency country rating, while its Outlook remained "stable".
In the same month, OYAK also became the first non-bank institution in Turkey to receive the highest long-term "trAA"" national scale rating. S&P also announced a short –term rating of "trA-1".
About sixty companies that are active in finance, manufacturing and services make up the OYAK Group. Having added Erdemir, Turkey's second biggest ındustrial concern, to its lineup in early 2006, OYAK is one of the Country's biggest corporate groups.
Group companies are engaged in a wide range of activities that include iron&steel, cement, automotives, financial services, energy, insurance, logistics,food processing, construction and technology. They are the leading concerns in their respective sectors. The employment, total sales, exports and production generated by OYAK Group companies continue to make an increasingly greater contribution to the Turkish economy.
As of 2006 year-end, OYAK Group companies were providing employment for a total of more than 34 thousand people.