Page 29 - bne IntelliNews newspaper 14 July 2017

Weekly Lists
July 14, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 29
bne:Credit Creditors look to sell
Turk Telekom stake
Some creditor banks of struggling Saudi construction giant Oger’s Dubai-based unit Oger Telecom are in unofficial talks to sell its 55% stake in Turkey’ largest telecom operator Turk Telekom, four unnamed source told Reuters on July 13.
The Turkish government has asked some creditor banks to find prospective buyers for the stake and two overseas investors have already expressed interest in the $3.3bn value of the stake, according to Reuters’ sources. The sale could be completed by end-September.
On July 12, anonymous contacts who are familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the Turkish treasury may take control of Turk Telekom’s management if Oger Telecom’s Otas, which owns 55% of Turk Telekom, fails to outline a plan to resolve a debt issue involving the country’s biggest syndicated loan.
In a letter to Otas on June 23, the treasury said it may exercise
its rights to dismiss existing board members and take over its management if Otas cannot agree a restructuring plan with banks for the $4.75bn loan, according to Bloomberg’s anonymous contacts.
Otas obtained the loan from 29 Turkish and international lenders in 2013. It has already missed $290mn worth of repayments on the loan in September 2016 and March and has a repayment scheduled in next September. The outstanding principal is $4.6bn. Turkish lender Akbank’s exposure to the loan is $1.5bn while Garanti Bankasi’s exposure is $951mn and Is Bankasi lent TRY1.9bn ($532mn).
The European Investment Bank (EIB) on July 11 signed an agreement to provide a €400mn loan to Hungary's state-owned Eximbank on July 11. The funds will be used to finance preferential loans for SMEs and mid-caps in the country.
Eximbank CEO Zoltan Urban said the loan agreement would "create a significant funding basis for financing SMEs and mid-caps in the coming years". He added: "As a result of recent cooperation, we've been able to finance 362 different SMEs and mid-cap companies that employ around 62,000 people."
Last year, the EIB provided Hungary with €1bn in loans to co- finance EU-funded projects worth €23.7bn.
EIB lends €400mn to Hungary’s Eximbank