ICBC contributes $77.8 million USD to €298.6 million EUR syndicated loan for the Bayrakli Integrated Health Campus Project

Project narrative

On October 20, 2016, ICBC contributed $77.8 million USD to a €298.6 million EUR syndicated loan agreement with Izmir Bayrakli Hastane Yatirim ve Saglik Hizmetleri A.S. — a special purpose vehicle and a joint venture of Turkerler Insaat A.S. (Turkerler), GAMA Holding A.S. (GAMA) and GE Healthcare (GEHC) group company — for the Izmir Bayrakli Integrated Health Campus Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. Members of the lending syndicate include EBRD, EDC, ICBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, OPIC, and UniCredit. This EUR 766,147,943.00 project EUR is being implemented on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis and financed according to an 80:20 debt-to-equity ratio. As part of the financing package, the EBRD arranged a €298.6 million ($324.8 million) syndicated loan under its A/B loan structure, with €85 million ($92.5 million) from the EBRD’s own account and €213.6 million ($232.4 million) syndicated to UniCredit S.p.A., Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd Dubai Branch and Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. OPIC of the United States and EDC of Canada provided parallel financing of $250 million and €65 million (US$70.7 million), respectively. The purpose of the project is to design, build, equip, and manage the Bayrakli Integrated Health Campus (also known as the Izmir Bayrakli hospital). The campus is comprised of 2,060 beds across several hospitals, namely general (715 beds), oncology (141 beds), cardiovascular (380 beds), women & pediatric (424 beds), physiotherapy and rehabilitation (300 beds) and high security forensic psychiatric (100 beds) in Izmir. The 63-hectare project site is located in Bayrakli District and Izmir Province and was previously used as idle and pastured land. The land is owned by the Ministry of Health and no land acquisition is required. The project site is bordered by an E87 highway from the south, slopes of the Kucukkalete Mound from the north, the Laka stream from the east and similar pasture land from the west. The nearest residential area is the Laka village some 50 m away. The main access to the site will be from the service road along the existing E87 highway. The project area has a very sharp elevation difference (190 m) between the lowest point (127 m) in its south-eastern corner and the highest (317 m) in its north-western corner and will require excavations to depths varying between 0.45 m to 37.14 m. Izmir Bayrakli Hastane Yatirim ve Saglik Hizmetleri A.S. was established by a consortium of private companies to design, build, finance, lease and operate the Izmir Hospital PPP in Bayrakli, one of the metropolitan districts of Izmir, Turkey, for an operation period of 25 years following a construction period of 3 years. It will act as facilities manager, providing building maintenance and non-clinical services, while medical services will remain the remit of Turkey’s Ministry of Health. A foundation laying ceremony for this project was held on March 12, 2014. Construction started in May 2017 following excavations in the area. As of November 2018, the project had achieved a 30% completion rate. The main hospital's projected completion date is May 2020, with 2,016 employees working on site. The hospital is planned to be put into service in 2022.