$33M syndicated loan for Turkish financial house

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Thursday announced a loan of 120 million Turkish liras ($33.1 million) to Turkish lender Hayat Varlik.

In a statement, the EBRD said the loan -- half of which will be provided by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) -- represented its confidence in the Turkish economy and aimed to support innovation in the financial sector.

“The syndicated loan, which [sees] lenders work together to provide funds for a single borrower, provided by the EBRD and ICBC is an important sign of international investors’ confidence in both our company and the Turkish economy,” Hayat Varlik CEO Hilmi Guvenal said.

Hayat Varlik recently merged with Turkasset, which had a 31 percent stake in the Turkish loans market. "Since 2009, we have grown to 800,000 customers, a portfolio of 8.5 billion Turkish liras [$2.3 billion] and 600 employees under the Turkasset brand," Guvenel said.

The EBRD said the loan would “facilitate new lending within the economy and help financially-challenged companies to become economically active.

"This will help boost the resilience of Turkish corporates, small- and medium-sized enterprises, the financial sector and the economy as a whole."

Jean-Patrick Marquet, EBRD’s managing director in Turkey, said the "pioneering syndicated loan structure" would hopefully attract further interest in Turkey’s lending sector.