The FINANCIAL — The EBRD is supporting the well-known Turkish producer of tractor cabins and agricultural machinery, Hisarlar, by participating in joint financing with the Darby Converging Europe Fund III.
The EBRD will account for up to €10 million out of the total financing of up to €22 million, according to European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Hisarlar, established as a small blacksmith workshop about 40 years ago, quickly expanded and started producing agricultural machinery. Today it operates a plant in Eskisehir, 300 km from Istanbul, and employs 800 people. Besides producing Hisarlar-branded agricultural machinery, the company serves the biggest domestic and global original equipment manufacturers in tractor cabins and metal components segments.
The loan will be mostly used to reduce the company’s reliance on short-term financing, but also on replacing old equipment and machinery which has been operating at near-full capacity to produce Hisarlar’s popular equipment, tailored for the Turkish soil.
“This project opens the way for the EBRD to open more financial instruments to manufacturing companies. Hisarlar – a strong, forward looking home-grown company in a sector that employs a quarter of the Turkish workforce – is the kind of enterprise that will benefit from access to longer-term financing”, said Frederic Lucenet, EBRD Director for Manufacturing and Services sectors.
The Hisarlar investment was executed though the EBRD’s Local Enterprise Facility, a donor-supported mechanism for investment in SMEs in Turkey, the Balkans and the SEMED countries.
Since the beginning of its operations in Turkey in 2009, the EBRD has invested over €2.5 billion in the country, both in direct deals and through credit lines. In May 2013, the EBRD will hold its Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Istanbul, Turkey.
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