Announcement of IFC Assists Turkish Industry Fifteen Million Forty Thousand US Dollars for Steel Project on July 13, 1976

.~ International J.lnance Corporation 1818 H Street. N.W Washington, O.C. 20433. U.S.A. 202-393-6360 IFC Press Release No. 77/4 Tuesday, July 13, 1976 IFC Assists Turkish Industry $15.4 Million for Steel Project The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an affiliate bf the World Bank, is providing $12 million in loan and up to $3.4 million equivalent in equity for a new, $88.3 million, 80,000 metric tons-a-year special steels plant in Turkey. The investment is being made in Asil Celik A.S., a new company sponsored by the Koc Group, a leading Turkish industrial group which pioneered the domestic automotive industry, and by Celik Endustrisi T.A.S., a private steel manufacturer in Istanbul. The sponsors are providing $8.6 million and $5.2 million, respec- • tively, in equity while Is Bankasi is investing $6.9 million and Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi, $3.4 million. The remaining $6.9 ~il~ion in equity is to be raised through an offering to private investors. Debt financing consists ·of $28.8 million in suppliers' credits, $5.6 million in local bank loans, a $7.5 million domestic bond issue, and IFC's loan. The steel plant will be located at Orhangazi, 30 miles northeast of Bursa, and will have the flexibility to produce a broad range of special steels. The plant has been designed to facilitate a capacity increase to 130,000 metric tons a year as the market expands. The project conforms with Turkey's industrialization strategy and will help satisfy growing domestic demand which is now met largely by imports. At full capacity, the plant will account for about 45 per cent of domestic special steels consumption and provide estimated foreign exchange savings of $16.6 million a year. It will also provide jobs for some 780 workers . • (Any inquiries strictly relating to IFC's participation in this project should be directed to the IFC Business Relations Unit, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, Telephone (202) 477-5770).