Everyone needs credit. Especially businesses.
So it is important that UK Export Finance (UKEF), the oldest credit agency in the world, is over here and doing business in Turkey.
In fact, UKEF has just concluded its first direct lending facility inTurkey. The loan, worth €23.6m, will be used to build a gas-fired power plant in Eastern Turkey.
The plant includes a UK-manufactured industrial turbine supplied by Siemens, which required the aero-derivative gas turbine business from Rolls Royce in 2014.
UKEF is a nimble and successful outfit, awarded “Export Credit Agency of the Year” by Global Trade Review in 2014. UKEF helps overseas buyers buy goods and services from UK suppliers at highly competitive rates of interest. While many export credit agencies require 50-80% content from their own countries to qualify for loans or guarantees, UKEF requires only a minimum of 20% UK content.
That’s a good deal.
UKEF is also innovative: when Emirates airlines wanted to use Islamic finance to buy four new airbus A380s for its fleet in 2015, UKEF developed an innovative guarantee for a sharia-compliant sukuk (Islamic bond) in the debt capital markets. The case was hailed as a new gold standard for sharia-compliant asset finance, helping widen the options for buyers of UK exports.
Nearly a third of the value of the Airbus 380 carrying Rolls Royce engines is made in the UK.
If you’d like to talk about how UKEF can help finance exports to Turkey, South Caucasus, Central Asia, Ukraine or indeed any other country, contact Ali Sherwani, Regional Manager for UKEF at ali.sherwani@ukef.gsi.gov.uk. Or check out the UKEF website at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-export-finance.
Follow Leigh Turner on Twitter at @leighturnerFCO