Turkish financial services company Ulusal Faktoring has closed its inaugural domestic bond offering.
Blue-chip Turkish corporates, qualified high-net-worth individuals and a diverse number of institutional investors subscribed to the TRY60m (USD34m) private placement.
Izak Koenka, chief executive of Ulusal Faktoring, says: “We are very pleased our first capital markets placement successfully attracted a quality group of investors. It is an important first step in establishing the company’s long term track record in the capital markets. Our close working partnership with PineBridge Investments remains instrumental to the development of Ulusal as a partner of choice for Turkish businesses and investors. To this end, we intend to use the proceeds of the offering to expand our coverage and market share and maintain a return-on-investment for our shareholders and investors.”
The offering is a significant milestone for Ulusal since PineBridge Eurasia Financial Investments, a PineBridge Investments-managed vehicle, became its largest minority shareholder in December 2011.
Serkan Elden (pictured), president of PineBridge Eurasia Financial Investments and a member of the Ulusal Faktoring board, says: “The financing is a major event in Ulusal Faktoring’s growth story and demonstrates the confidence Turkish investors have in the company. Coming exactly 10 years after the first ever Turkish private equity backed-IPO managed by our team and at a time when Fitch upgrades Turkey to investment grade, this placement highlights our efforts at bringing our investees to capital markets. We are very happy to see Ulusal entering the burgeoning Turkish bond markets, and proud to be contributing to the further development of Istanbul as an international financial centre.”
Ulusal Faktoring is focused on providing financing for the fast growing small and medium sized companies market in Turkey. The company, headquartered in Istanbul, is one of the ten largest independent factoring companies in Turkey.
Ak Investment acted as financial advisers and Esin Attorney Partnership (a member of Baker & McKenzie International, a Swiss Verein) acted as legal advisers to the company on the offering.
