Page 49 - TURKRptSept19

Akhan was cited as saying. The maturity of the 14-year facility won’t change from 2030, he added, with the Galataport investment to pay back in 16 years.
Dogus Holding was among several large Turkish companies that sought restructurings last year when the lira crisis pushed the economy into recession. Dogus Group has restructured about €2.3bn worth of debt in Q1. The group plans to to divest two companies in the tourism sector by the end of this year, Akhan also said.
New cruise ship port Galataport in Istanbul is to open in the second quarter of next year following an investment of $1.7bn, according to the project’s chairman Akhan. Galataport is a joint venture of Dogus Group and Bilgili Holding. The plan is for the port to host its first cruise ship on April 5, 2020 at its location in the centre of Turkey’s largest city on the European shores of the Bosphorus straits, according to Akhan’s comments.
Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk is reportedly ready to sell more of his assets as he attempts to satisfy a debt-restructuring deal struck with banks earlier this year.
Sahenk’s Dogus Holding could dispose of investments worth as much as €800mn, he said in an interview with Bloomberg in Istanbul.
Dogus has interests across restaurants, entertainment outlets, marinas and car-distribution businesses.
It is making an effort to reduce its €2.3bn of restructured debt to below €2bn this year and to €1.5bn by the end of 2020 through the sales, Sahenk was cited as saying.
“We are keeping our focus on our core businesses. We have observed significant improvements in our cash flows and Ebitda figure this year and had savings of 75 million euros in a short period of time in the group.”
The steps could include an initial public offering of Dogus’s hospitality businesses.
Dogus has invested $9bn in restaurants, automotive, hotels, energy and finance in the past decade, with 83% of the investment in Turkey, Sahenk said.
Like many other Turkish companies, the owner of the Nusr-Et steakhouse, known worldwide by its founder chef’s meme Salt Bae, is struggling to repay foreign-exchange loans after the Turkish lira plunged in Turkey’s currency crisis.
To keep up with the restructuring deal commitments, Dogus has been selling hotels and stakes in restaurants. Moody’s Investors Service said in May the stakes amount to about €625mn.
The group had plans to sell shares through an IPO of the international restaurants business, D.ream, or Dogus Restaurants Entertainment & Management, in London, people with knowledge of the plan said last year, Bloomberg said. D.ream has the franchise of Japanese restaurant Zuma, Nusr-Et and among other brands.
Dogus Holding signed the loan-restructuring deal with 12 banks in Turkey. Two of the banks are international lenders, Husnu Akhan, vice chairman of the group, said in a separate interview with Bloomberg, adding that the restructured loan is a six-year facility, he said.
The billionaire was once Turkey’s richest man. He entered the entertainment and restaurant trade after selling his stake in Turkiye Garanti Bankasi to Spain’s BBVA for around $5bn in three transactions that commenced in 2010.
49 TURKEY Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com