The Ikitelli Integrated Health Campus PPP Project scoops another award!

After receiving Europe’s “PPP Deal of the Year” award with the Ikitelli Integrated Health Campus PPP Project in January by Project Finance International (PFI), Bezen & Partners doubles the award this month with “European Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year” by IJGlobal. The IJGlobal awards recognise excellence in transactions in each sector and region, and the winning deal must demonstrate genuine innovation and move the market forward. The IJGlobal Awards 2017 ceremony was held in the National History Museum in London on 7 March 2018.

Bezen & Partners has acted as advisors of the sponsors’ group consisting of a Japanese and Turkish consortium on the JPY194.7 billion (US$1.456 billion) financing of the İkitelli Integrated Health Campus PPP Project, together with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.

“We are proud to have received the award this year from the IJGlobal. The Bezen & Partners team has supported the Japanese – Turkish consortium as they have familiarised themselves with the Turkish infrastructure sector and we are proud to have been part of their success.  We hope and expect this is the first of many successful transactions we complete together.” says partner Banu Bölükemini (Aslan).

A landmark project

The award reflects the unique nature of this pioneer project, in terms of size, strategic importance for Turkey as well as its innovative social infrastructure that Japanese JBIC & NEXI groups invested into Turkey, helping to de-risk the project and bring in foreign government support. In addition to being the first Japanese Yen-funded PPP project in Turkey, it is the first transaction in the country to have been participated by Dai-ichi and Nissay, two of Japan’s largest insurance companies, an indication of the robustness of the structure and returns; structuring the deal in Yen also allowed the borrower to maximise the transaction’s liquidity, reducing the overall cost of funding.

The İkitelli Integrated Health Campus PPP Project, which is part of Turkey’s EUR 12 billion healthcare PPP programme, covers a total area of 790 thousand m2 in Başakşehir, a district of Istanbul in the northwest of Turkey. Upon completion, which is expected by the end of 2018, the centre will be the 3rd largest PPP healthcare facility in Turkey - accommodating 2,682 patients and providing state-of-the-art security and rehabilitation services. The centre consists of a 2,330 bed Main Hospital, a 152-bed Psychiatric Hospital and a 200-bed Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Hospital. The main hospital building will be equipped with 2,040 seismic isolators, making it the “World’s Largest Seismically Isolated Building” when completed.

About Bezen & Partners Team

The Japanese and Turkish consortium was advised by a cross-practice B&P team led by senior partner Yeşim Bezen (Finance, Infrastructure), senior partner Aykut Bakırcı (Regulatory), senior partner Serdar Bezen (Corporate) and partner Banu Bölükemini (Aslan) (Finance, Infrastructure) together with associates Uğur Sebzeci (Corporate), Eren Soydan (Regulatory), Elif Soyel (Finance) and Yasemin Keskin (Finance).

Bezen & Partners has built a reputation as an expert advisor on PPPs, recently acting on a number of winning bids including the Integrated Health Campus PPP in Adana, the Integrated Health Campus PPP in Elazığ, the Integrated Health Campus PPP in Yozgat, the Integrated Health Campus PPP in Kayseri and the Integrated Health Campus PPP in Bursa.