ICBC Turkey provides $95 million loan for Tekirdağ Port Modernization and Capacity Expansion Project (Linked to Project ID#67309)

In 2019, ICBC Turkey and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided approximately $130 million of debt financing to Ceyport Tekirdağ Uluslararası Liman İşletmeciliği A.Ş. (“Tekirdağ A.S.”) — a special purpose vehicle and wholly owned subsidiary of Ceynak Lojistik ve Ticaret A.Ş. (Cey Group; Ceynak, Samsunport, Ali Avcı, M Berzan Avcı, Lerzan Avcı Lülecioğlu) that was awarded a 36 year concession in December 2018 by the Turkish privatization authority and granted operation rights for the Port of Tekirdağ — for the privatization, modernization, and capacity expansion of Tekirdağ Port. The total estimated cost of the project is between $127.8 million and $130 million. EBRD and ICBC Turkey both issued loans worth $17.5 million (collectively worth $35 million) for the privatization of Tekirdağ Port. The loan from the EBRD was approved July 24, 2019, and both the ICBC Turkey and the EBRD loans were announced on December 10, 2019. These loans reportedly carried a maturity of 7 years and a grace period of 3.5 years. ICBC Turkey’s contribution of $17.5 million is captured via Project ID#67309. Additionally, ICBC Turkey provided a $95 million loan to Tekirdağ A.S. in 2019 for the modernization and capacity expansion of Tekirdağ Port. The borrowing terms of this loan, which is captured via Project ID#92202, are unknown. The Tekirdağ Port Privatization, Modernization, and Capacity Expansion Project has two components the (i) privatization of the Port of Tekirdağ, an operational brownfield terminal located in the Thrace region, and (ii) the Port’s investment plan for capacity expansion and equipment acquisition. The Port’s expansion and modernization are required by the technical specification of the awarded privatization tender, which includes expanding the handling capacity from 1.5 million to 3.0 million tons, repairing the damaged areas and building a passenger pier, enlargement the surface to 260.000.-m2 over a 15 year period. The Tekirdağ port (Ceyport), which is located in Ertuğrul District (Süleymanpaşa District) within Tekirdağ Province, handles general cargo, dry and liquid bulk, containers and roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels and serves industrial and agricultural production and trade in the region. Tekirdağ is an important hinterland area for the Port with its organized industrial zones. Major industrial activities in the region include textile manufacturing, wheat processing, steel manufacturing and glass manufacturing, amongst other activities and the Port has served each of these industries in its history. The Port is the only port handling terminal in the Thrace region with a railway connection, which also includes a ferry line to ÇelebiPort / Bandırma in West Anatolia region also Derince port in Kocaeli region. The Port provides dry bulk and general cargo handling and storage services. The main products are grain, fertilizer and sunflower seeds. The Port has eight piers and berth range between 6-12 meters. Ceynak has been an Operations and Maintenance operator for handling services of the terminal since 2012. The Port comprises of 152,547.02 m2 of surface area and has been providing service on Barbaros Road, Tekirdağ in the name of Türkiye Denizcilik İşletmeleri Anonim Şirketi (Turkey Maritime Organization or TDI) Tekirdağ Limanı. The Port has been under the management of TDI since 2012 and governed by the Tekirdağ Port Authority. The Port’s previous private operator was Akport until 2011. Ceynak acquired the privatization tender of the Port in 2018 and started providing operational services for the Port of Tekirdağ.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Ceyport Project. The Turkish project title is Tekirdağ Limanı'nın özelleştirilmesi. 2. One of the online sources that is now inactive reported that the ICBC loan carried a 7-year maturity and a 3.5-year grace period. For the time being, AidData has coded the grace period field and the maturity field accordingly. 3. Some sources indicate that Tekirdağ A.S. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ceynak Lojistik ve Ticaret A.Ş. However, the EBRD reports that Tekirdağ A.S. is 51 per cent owned by Ceynak Lojistik ve Ticaret A.S. (‘Ceynak’); 25 per cent owned by Samsunport-Samsun Uluslararasi Liman Isletmeciligi A.S.; and 24 per cent by private individuals Ali Avci, Mehmet Berzan Avci and Lerzan Avci Lulecioglu. Ceynak is the flagship company of the Cey Group of companies. Cey Group is active in logistics, transportation, storage, warehouse, bonded warehouse, grain silos, elevators, container terminal, container repair and maintenance, port services, packing, customs clearance transportation and international port management services with 1,000 personnel since 1969. It has a successful record of accomplishment in port privatizations. Samsunport, owned by the Group since 2008, is one of the most successful privatizations in the sector in Turkey as the port reached 75 per cent EBITDA margin in 2017 compared to 62 per cent average for its peers in Turkey.

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

4