10 April 2005 Sunday 30 Safar 1426 World Bank’s IFC arranges loan for Turkey’s Arcelik WASHINGTON, April 9: The World Bank’s financing arm said on Friday it signed a deal to provide a 160 million euro loan to Turkish household appliance maker Arcelik to fund investment that will include a new washing machine factory in Russia. The International Finance Corp. said the financing comprises 80 million euros from IFC’s own account and a five-year syndicated loan the agency has arranged from Citibank, ABN AMRO, Calyon, HypoVereinsbank , ING Societe Generale and West LB. The investment will allow Arcelik to modernize its facilities, fund new product development and expand in domestic and international markets, especially in Russia, the IFC said. Arcelik’s investment in the Russian facility will amount to 51 million euros, the IFC said. The plant is projected to produce 850,000 washing machines per year and first-year revenues of 100 million euros. IFC officials said the loan also will help Arcelik to evolve into a bigger regional and global player in the appliance industry. The 10-year IFC portion of the loan carries a three year grace period followed by seven years at Euribor plus 2.1 percentage points. The 7-year syndicated portion has a 2-year grace period followed by 5 years at Euribor plus 1.85 percentage points. Although Arcelik is a flagship arm of one of Turkey’s largest and most successful companies, Koc Holding one of Turkey’s most successful companies and part of the country, the IFC was able to step in with a longer maturity at a more competitive rate than was available from commercial banks. At the time this was under consideration, with the Russian risk on the table, such lengthy tenors were not readily available, said Shahbaz Mavaddat, IFC associate director for Southern Europe and Central Asia. —Reuters

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