Clifford Chance and Yegin Ciftci have announced they advised the lenders on the privatisation of Menzelet and Kılavuzlu hydroelectric power plants in Turkey – the largest acquisition to date of hydroelectric power plants by a domestic investor in the country.
In a statement, the advisors said this privatisation is an important step towards the future goal of all electricity in Turkey being generated by private suppliers.
Entek Elektrik Üretimi A.Ş. was the winning bidder of a competitive privatisation tender to operate the 124MW Menzelet and 54MW Kılavuzlu project in Kahramanmaraş province in Turkey’s south-east. Entek is a subsidiary of the country's largest diversified conglomerate Koç Holding, which currently owns six hydroelectric power plants and one gas fired power plant with a total installed capacity of 244MW.
The financing package of about 1.5 billion Turkish Lira (US$375 million) will be provided partly in Lira and partly in US$ by EBRD and commercial banks comprising Garanti Bank, İşbank, Akbank, Yapı Kredi, Unicredit and ICBC Turkey.
Clifford Chance's team was led by London based partner Simon Williams and assisted by senior associate Rebecca Shepherd and Yegin Ciftci team was led by Mete Yegin, assisted by senior associate Sait Eryılmaz and associate Seda Işınman.
