Announcement of IFC Assists Turkish Textile Industry Lends Fifteen Million US Dollars for DMT Plant on Decemeber 18, 1974

International Finance C01poration 1818 H Stn::et. N W. Washington. D.C. 202·393-6360 IFC Press Release No. 74/28 Wednesday, December 18, 1974 IFC Assists Turkish Textile Industr Lends 15 Million for DMT Plant The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is lending $15 million to Sasa Sun'i ve Sentetik Elyaf Sanayii A.S., a major Turkish polyester fiber and filament producer, to help finance a new $51 million, 60,000 metric tons-a-year dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) plant. DMr, presently imported by the Company, is a raw material used in the manufacture of polyesters. The project is part of an approximately $102 million expansion that will increase the Company's fiber and filament production from the present 15,000 to • approximately 39,000 tons a year. The DMT plant is a critical element in the expan- sion as it will reduce manufacturing costs especially the cost of imported raw materials -- through vertical integration and an increased scale of operations. The First National City Bank, New York, is taking a participation in IFC's loan. The balance of the project financing consists of $5 million in foreign loans, $31 million from internally generated funds and from a stock offering to present shareholders. The Company's principal shareholders are two important local industrial groups, the Sabanci and Sapmaz Groups; Akbank T.A.S.; and Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi A.S., a development finance institution which has been assisted both by the World Bank and its affiliate, IFC. The loan will be guaranteed by Haci Omer Sabanci Holding A.S. The expansion aims at helping to meet the growing demand for polyester in Turkey and will permit the Company to produce its own DMT. The expansion also supports the Government's efforts to further develop the textile sector which is already of considerable importance to the Turkish economy. Employment at the plant, which is located near Adana in southern Turkey, will increase from about 900 to almost 1,600 people . • This will be the seventeenth commitment by IFC to Turkish industry. commitments now amount to $70.8 million. Total I re PRcSS Ret.Ur5£ ))o. 1'-/ 2'1<