Page 61 - TURKRptMay20
P. 61
In February, Amazon acquired San Francisco-based data processing firm DataRow from Istanbul-based parent TeamSQL for an undisclosed sum.
The top 10 fundraisers—accounting for 91% of a total $19.8mn that went to Turkish startups in the first quarter—were Apsiyon (launched in 2009, it provides an online platform for property managers and it was 240th on the Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA 2018 ranking), Thundra (launched in 2017, it offers application observability and a security platform), App Samurai (mobile advertising platform), Vispera (launched in 2014, visual intelligence for retail), Biolive, PriSync, Mutlubiev, Temizlikyolda, Jib Games and Otsimo.
Three new angel and venture capital funds, namely Revo Capital II, ScaleX Ventures and Teknoloji Yatirim (TTGV1 Co-investment Fund) were established in Turkey in Q1.
9.2.7 Tourism corporate news
9.2.8 Other sector corporate news
Construction of Galataport, a $1.7bn cruise ship port being built in Istanbul, has been suspended after a worker, Hasan Oguz, died of the coronavirus. The initial plan was for the port to host its first cruise ship on April 5 and to help draw some 1.5mn cruise tourists to Istanbul.
Japan’s HIS Co has acquired a stake in Atmosfer Balonculuk owned by Dotak Holding, Turkish business daily Dunya has reported.
On March 31, S&P cut household appliances maker Arcelik (ARCLK) to B+, two notches below investment grade. The company halted operations in its foreign markets.
Consumer electronics producer Vestel Elektronik and home appliances maker Vestel Beyaz Esya resumed production after halting on March 20. The numbers of staff working in each shift, however, have been reduced and the capacities of the plants have been lowered.
Standard & Poor’s downgraded Vestel Elektronik to ‘Selective Default’ (SD) from ‘CCC+’ with a response to Vestel Elektronik postponing a portion of its financial obligation due in June 2020 for three to six months.
Despite the lending counterparties agreeing to the postponement, S&P considered the exchange to be distressed.
In S&P’s view Vestel Elektronik's tight liquidity and weak credit metrics, with its forecast liquidity sources over uses of less than 0.4x (over the next 12 months as of January 1, 2020), and adjusted leverage above 10x in 2020, leaves the company with limited options in terms of refinancing.
In addition, S&P saw Vestel Elektronik's refinancing ability as further constrained by its relatively high share of foreign currency-denominated debt of around 40%, and expected demand and supply disruptions caused by the COVID-19 stress.
On April 17, Standard & Poor’s said that it had upgraded Vestel Elektronik to CCC-/Negative, default imminent with little prospect for recovery, after downgrading the company to Selective Default earlier in the month.
Vestel has shifted a significant portion of debt maturing in Q2 2020 to Q3,
61 TURKEY Country Report May 2020 www.intellinews.com
