Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Babayeva / Turkcell the leading provider of mobile communications in Turkey, announced today that it successfully closed a US$3 billion unsecured syndicated term loan facility with Akbank TAS, Citibank, NA, Garanti Bankas AS, HSBC plc, JP Morgan plc and Standard Bank plc as Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers (Initial MLA's) and underwriters. The amount is the largest unsecured syndicated loan facility closed by a single corporate ever in Turkey.
The Facility was structured as a senior unsecured term loan facility in Tranches A, B and C of US$1 billion each with maturities of 3, 5 and 7 years respectively. Only Tranches A and B were syndicated; Tranche C was fully subscribed by Akbank TAS and Garanti Bankasi AS, and is structured as an amortizing facility with commercial terms in line with those of Tranches A and B.
The facility was signed on 26 February in Istanbul, Turkey. Citibank, NA, HSBC Bank plc, JP Morgan plc and Standard Bank Plc acted as Joint Bookrunners on the Facility.
Speaking first at the signature ceremony, Turkcell CEO, Sureyya Ciliv noted that Turkcell, as a communication and technology company, was going to use this loan for potential investment opportunities. He added that the loan would significantly accelerate Turkcell's continuing growth in the times ahead.
Zafer Kurtul, the General Manager of Akbank said that "Both the amount and terms of this syndication loan that Turkcell has secured are the indication of the confidence in Turkcell and our country's economy. Turkcell has shown tremendous performance in becoming one of the biggest companies in Turkey in a short term. The facility that will be used for the finance of Turkcell's international investment is also a great indicator of Turkcell's future growth intention."
51% of Turkcell's share capital is held by Turkcell Holding, 7.46% by Cukurova Group, 13.07% by Sonera Holding, 5.07% by MV Group and 0.01% by others while the remaining 23.39% is free float.