Calyon acted as agent and mandated lead arranger for two financings for Turkcell, worth USD 360 million. The transaction is composed of a USD 285 million buyer credit financing 2G and 3G equipment for Turkcell in Turkey and a USD 75 million buyer credit financing 2G equipment for Turkcell’s Ukrainian subsidiary, Astelit. The equipment and services will be provided by Ericsson. Both buyer credits are 95 % covered by the Swedish Export Credit Agency, EKN, and are 100 % funded by the Swedish Government entity SEK. The buyer credits are 50/50 shared between Calyon and Nordea Bank AB.

The successful closing in a short period of time has been possible thanks to several reasons. The strong involvement of the arrangers, EKN, SEK, Turkcell and Astelit, the innovative structure and attractive conditions enabled by SEK funding, the structure used for Ukraine with Financell as borrower, a Dutch SPV 100 % owned by Turkcell and Turkcell as guarantor as well as the close co-operation between Export & Trade Finance, Telecoms and Coverage in Calyon have contributed to this transaction.

Established in 1994, Turkcell is the first and leading GSM operator with 37 million subscribers in Turkey. Turkcell is the second GSM operator in Europe with 62 million subscribers.