Consortium lines up $600 mln loan deal

ISTANBUL - Reuters

A consortium building a motorway between Gebze and Izmir in western Turkey plans to sign a $600 million loan accord with eight banks for a section of the road in April, consortium leader Nurol Holding’s chief financial officer said yesterday.

A consortium of Nurol, Italy’s Astaldi, Özaltin Makyol, Yüksel and Göçay Insaat won the 22-year operating rights for the highway in a 2009 tendering for a build-operate-transfer deal. Yüksel group subsequently withdrew from the consortium. “We plan to sign a $600 million loan accord in April,” CFO Kerim Kemahli told Reuters, refering to a section of the highway being built between Orhangazi and Bursa. “In total it looks like the cost of investment for the whole of the project will be $7.4 billion,” he added. Last year the consortium secured a $1.4 bi

llion, seven-year loan for the Gebze-Orhangazi section of the road with Akbank , Finansbank, Garanti Bank, Halkbank, İş Bank, Vakıfbank, Yapı Kredi Bank and Ziraat Bank.