Ulusoy Un is a flour miller and grain trader based in Samsun, a city in the Black Sea region of Turkey.
Photo courtesy of EBRD.
Photo courtesy of EBRD.
Divided 50:50 between the two lenders, the financing will be used to purchase, store and sell agro-commodities.
Founded in 1989, Ulusoy Un produces and sells flour used for the production of bread, biscuits, chapattis and noodles. The company exports its wheat flour to 86 countries on five continents, from the Far East to the Caribbean islands, as well as Africa and the Middle East.
According to the EBRD, this funding will help make the company more competitive on the Turkish market and abroad. Competitiveness is one of the six transition qualities the EBRD has identified in its approach to the countries where it invests, with sustainability, resilience, governance, integration and inclusion the other key elements.
"This agreement with TSKB and the EBRD — two leading financial institutions in Turkey — is an indication of the confidence in our country, our industry and our company,” said Günhan Ulusoy, chairman of Ulusoy Un. “I am confident that our cooperation will go from strength to strength in the coming years.”
The financing marks the first investment under a joint program between the EBRD and TSKB, which was set up in 2016 to improve and simplify access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Turkey.
“We are pleased to partner with TSKB as we work toward our joint goal of boosting the development of successful SMEs and small mid-cap companies such as Ulusoy Un,” said Jean-Patrick Marquet, EBRD managing director for Turkey. “TSKB’s deep local knowledge and network will help us reach out to businesses that can benefit the most from our financing.”
The EBRD said it started investing in Turkey in 2009 and currently operates from offices in Istanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep. The country is a top destination for the bank’s finance, with €1.9 billion invested in 2016 alone. To date, EBRD has invested over €9 billion in Turkey through more than 220 projects across sectors and has mobilized nearly €20 billion for these ventures from other sources of financing. Some 98% of the bank’s investments in Turkey are in the private sector.
