07/11/2012 — ISTANBUL — (BUSINESS WIRE)

Ulusal Faktoring A.S. (“Ulusal” or the “Company”), a leading independent non-bank financial services company in Turkey, today announced the successful close of its inaugural domestic bond offering. Blue-chip Turkish corporates, qualified high-net-worth individuals and a diverse number of institutional investors subscribed to the TL 60 million (cUS$ 34 million) private placement.

Izak Koenka, CEO of Ulusal Faktoring, said: “We are very pleased our first capital markets placement successfully attracted a quality group of investors. It is an important first step in establishing the Company’s long term track record in the capital markets. Our close working partnership with PineBridge Investments remains instrumental to the development of Ulusal as a partner of choice for Turkish businesses and investors. To this end, we intend to use the proceeds of the offering to expand our coverage and market share and maintain a return-on-investment for our shareholders and investors.”

The offering is a significant milestone for Ulusal since PineBridge Eurasia Financial Investments, a PineBridge Investments-managed vehicle, became its largest minority shareholder in December 2011.

Serkan Elden, President of PineBridge Eurasia Financial Investments and a member of the Ulusal Faktoring Board, said: “The financing is a major event in Ulusal Faktoring’s growth story and demonstrates the confidence Turkish investors have in the Company. Coming exactly 10 years after the first ever Turkish private equity backed-IPO managed by our team and at a time when Fitch upgrades Turkey to investment grade, this placement highlights our efforts at bringing our investees to capital markets. We are very happy to see Ulusal entering the burgeoning Turkish bond markets, and proud to be contributing to the further development of Istanbul as an international financial center.”

Talal Al Zain, CEO of PineBridge Investments Middle East, said: “The MENA region and Turkey remain among the key growing economies in the world and a natural destination for investment. As this important transaction demonstrates, PineBridge Investments is well placed to support and capitalize upon this continuing growth.”

Ulusal Faktoring is focused on providing financing for the fast growing small and medium sized companies market in Turkey. The Company, headquartered in Istanbul, is one of the ten largest independent factoring companies in Turkey.

Ak Investment acted as financial advisors and Esin Attorney Partnership (a member of Baker & McKenzie International, a Swiss Verein) acted as legal advisors to the Company on the offering.

About Ulusal Faktoring

Ulusal Faktoring is an independent non-bank financial institution regulated by the Turkish banking authorities. The Company’s Chairman Kurt K. Jolker and CEO Izak Koenka built the firm to a successful financing business for Turkish small and medium sized businesses in 10 years after acquisition of the Company in 2001. As at the end of 30 June, 2012, Ulusal had a year-to-date factoring turnover exceeding TL 430 million with more than 1,100 customers around Turkey. In August this year, the Company was assigned an investment grade credit rating of A (Trk)-long term and A-1 (Trk)-short term by JCR.

For additional information on Ulusal Faktoring, visit www.ulusalfaktoring.com.

About PineBridge Investments

PineBridge is an independent asset manager with over 60 years of experience in developed and emerging markets. We manage over US $69 BN across our platform for institutional and individual investors worldwide as of 30 September 2012. Our globally integrated investment platform offers innovative, core and specialized alpha-oriented solutions across asset allocation, equities, fixed income, private equity and hedge funds. What makes us different is our integration of on-the-ground investment teams across asset classes, allowing us to combine global perspectives with structured insights.

PineBridge has been a pioneer of private equity investments in Turkey and its surrounding region since the mid-90’s. PineBridge has recently stepped up its presence in the MENA region and has established a new investment platform based in Bahrain, PineBridge Investments Middle East B.S.C. which holds a Category 1 Investment Firm License issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

For additional information on PineBridge Investments, visit www.pinebridge.com.

 

CONTACT:

Media:
Ulusal Faktoring
Izak Koenka
Izak.Koenka@ulusalfaktoring.com
+90-212-346 1111
or
PineBridge Investments Middle East
Dina Kasrawi
dina.kasrawi@pinebridge.com
+973 39553989
or
RLM Finsbury
Theo Hildebrand
theo.hildebrand@rlmfinsbury.com
+971 50 352 4286

KEYWORDS:   Turkey  Europe

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Professional Services  Banking  Finance

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