Istanbul, Turkey, February 17, 2004
—The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed an agreement to provide a $50 million project finance facility to Oyak Bank in Turkey. Oyak Bank is the flagship of the Oyak Group—one of the largest institutional investors in Turkey with subsidiaries and affiliates in several sectors in the automotive, cement, financial services and chemical sectors.
This is IFC’s second loan to Oyak Bank, the first being a $40 million syndicated facility which was fully repaid in June 2003.
Declan Duff, Director of IFC's Global Financial Markets Department, said, " This investment is a direct response to some of the most urgent needs of the Turkish banking sector--for longer term funds. IFC's proposed investment is expected to provide term funding to a Turkish bank at a time when such funding is particularly scarce.”
Khosrow Zamani, Director of IFC’s Southern Europe and Central Asia Department noted: “IFC is committed to supporting Turkish financial institutions at a time when key sector reforms are beginning to take root and gaining wider acceptance in the international community. This operation should send an important signal of support to the country’s financial system .”
Hakan Emisoy, General Manager of Oyak Bank, added: "This project underlines the close cooperation between IFC and Oyak Bank since 1997. Oyak Bank is emerging as a strong bank in Turkey, despite contractions in the Turkish banking sector and a challenging economic environment. We look forward to continuing this partnership with IFC.”
IFC's portfolio in Turkey, including amounts mobilized from commercial banks, stood at $968.5 million as of end December 2003. Turkey is the third largest exposure in IFC’s portfolio of investments.
The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY03, IFC has committed more than $37 billion of its own funds and arranged $22 billion in syndications for 2,990 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY03 was $16.7 billion for its own account and $6.6 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
