BAKU

SOCAR Turkiye Enerji, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR, has secured a $1.3 billion syndicated loan to refinance its debt obligations.

Lead-managers of the syndication were Citi Bank and JP Morgan. The funds were provided for five years under SOCAR’s guarantee at LIBOR/EURIBOR + 3.45 percent, the company said.

It said that the new loan did not create additional obligations, since it partially replaced the previous obligations of SOCAR Turkiye Enerji.

“SOCAR Turkiye once again proved its strong position in the international markets with this high-amount loan it provided during the pandemic period when global uncertainties continued,” the company said in a statement.

U.S. law firm Vinson & Elkins RLLP, Turkey’s Unsal Attorney Partnership and Azerbaijan’s Omni Law Firm acted as legal consultants for SOCAR Turkiye in this transaction.

“With this financing, we strengthen our financial structure and improve the average cost of our group’s past debts with a relatively low-interest rate. We think that accessing a syndicated loan of this scale under these conditions is of particular importance, given the global economic conditions we are in,” Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR president, said.

SOCAR Turkiye Enerji was established at the end of 2006 to implement investment projects in the oil refining, petrochemical sectors and trade in natural gas in Turkey.

SOCAR Turkiye Enerji owns a controlling stake (51 percent) of the petrochemical complex of Turkey Petkim Petrokimya Holding. The company has also built a STAR oil refinery in Turkey, a container terminal, a power plant, and is also engaged in the supply of gas to the domestic market, as well as the supply of petroleum products to aircraft refuelling points at the airports of a number of major cities in Turkey.