- EBRD lends TL 100 million to Hayat Varlik, Turkey’s leading non-performing loan management company
- Funding to help the firm buy more NPLs from local banks and other financial institutions
- Move supports resilience of banking sector as lenders restructure balance sheets
In a move to help Turkey tackle the increase in non-performing loans (NPL) in its banking sector, the EBRD is supporting the country’s leading NPL management firm Hayat Varlik.
The Bank is providing a TL 100 million loan to support the company’s operations and enable Hayat to buy new distressed portfolios from local banks and other financial institutions.
The Turkish banking sector, often considered a key anchor of the country’s economy, is under stress following the lira’s depreciation and a sharp slowdown of the economy.
An increase in NPLs can affect banks’ cost of funding, profitability, and may impair their capacity to lend to the real economy.
Boosting Hayat Varlik’s ability to acquire and manage NPLs will help clean up the banks’ balance sheets and free up their capacity for new lending. It will also contribute to a strong and efficient NPLs market in the country.
The EBRD is a 12 per cent shareholder in Hayat Varlik and has previously invested a total of TL 76 million (€12.3 million equivalent) in seven issuances of bonds issued by the company. The Bank has also provided the company with TL 120 million in loans and has mobilised TL 60 million in parallel financing from ICBC Turkey.
The Bank is a leading institutional investor in Turkey and has invested over €11 billion in 283 projects in Turkey since 2009, with a focus on investment in sustainable energy, improving infrastructure, strengthening the competitiveness of the private sector, deepening capital and local currency markets, and promoting regional and youth inclusion and gender equality. The overwhelming majority of EBRD investments in Turkey are in the private sector.
Last year alone the EBRD invested over €1 billion in Turkey, of which one-third - €331 million – was extended in local currency.