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Freshfields advises a group of lenders on the € 873.3m financial restructuring of the Kocaeli and the Izmir Bayraklı Integrated Health Campus Projects
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised the Lenders (including EBRD and EDC) on the €873.3m financial restructuring of the Kocaeli Integrated Health Campus Project located in Kocaeli, and its ‘twin’ project the Izmir Bayraklı Integrated Health Campus Project located in Izmir. The Sponsors group for each project is comprised of Gama Holding, Turkerler and GE Healthcare (as a minority shareholder).
Izmir and Kocaeli hospitals will together provide a total capacity of 3,240 beds, the provision of the hospital facilities as well as the supply of clinical equipment.
The projects faced a combination of cost increase, construction delays and adverse macro-economic changes and the negative impacts of Covid19 pandemic since the deal originally closed in 2017. The projects required the simultaneous implementation of a variation to the works and implementation of new regulations issued by the Turkish Ministry of Health to revamp PPP projects, in addition to the consensual financial restructuring, all of which closed on 17 December 2020. This now allows construction funding to resume on a sustainable long-term basis so that the hospitals will be completed in November 2021 for Kocaeli, and February 2022 for Izmir.
The Freshfields team was led by partner Alex Carver and senior associate Sara Barin, with assistance from associates Amanda Mapanda and Noor Maraghi.
Legal advice was also provided to the lenders by Hergüner Bilgen Özeke and PwC acted as lenders’ financial advisor and BTY as lenders’ technical advisor.
This follows the recent Freshfields work in the financial restructuring of the Etlik hospital project, one of the largest Turkish health PPP projects in the market, which closed on 11 September 2020, and demonstrates the firm’s strength in dealing with all aspects of Turkish infrastructure projects.
ENDS
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About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is a global law firm with a long track record of successfully advising the world's leading national and multinational corporations and financial institutions on ground breaking and business-critical challenges. Our team of more than 2,800 lawyers and other legal professionals delivers global results from our 28 offices worldwide. Our commitment, local and multinational expertise and business know-how means our clients can rely on us when it matters most.
