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The consortium formed by Astaldi S.p.A. and Turkerler Construction has achieved financial close for the Turkish Ankara Etlik Health Campus PPP project.

Commercial closure was achieved in June 2015, while financial closure progress slower due to the unstable political climate in Turkey following general election.

The total project investment is estimated at €1.11 billion (US$1.2 billion). Project financing has been provided by the following lenders:

• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),
• International Financial Corporation,
• Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTD),
• German Investment and Development Corporation (DEG),
• SACE, the Italian export credit agency,
• Credit Agricole,
• UniCredit,
• Banca IMI,
• Deutsche Bank
• Turkiye Is Bankasi,
• Akbank,
• TSKB

The lenders have been advised by Freshfields (legal) and Mott MacDonald (technical) and the sponsors have been advised by UniCredit Austria and Citi (financial) and Clifford Chance and Fidan & Fidan (legal). 

The transaction marks the first Turkish project financing provided by a mix of development finance institutions and foreign and Turkish commercial banks with tranches at an 18-year tenor.

Etlik Health Campus will comprise 11 different buildings with a total capacity of 3,566 beds. It will include, among others: a general hospital (694 beds), a women's hospital (500 beds), a children's hospital (468 beds), a cardiovascular surgery hospital (362 beds), an oncology hospital (484 beds), an orthopedic hospital (478 beds), a psychiatric hospital (280 beds) and a rehabilitation hospital (300 beds).

The planned construction period is 42 months, to be followed by a 24-year concession.

The project aims to improve infrastructure for public health services in Ankara, especially in underserved specialized areas of oncology, cardiovascular surgery. Additionally, it is expected that the project will have a demonstration effect in the region and for other sectors, where PPP models are being investigated as an alternative to improving social infrastructure, and are expected to follow the example of the Turkish healthcare PPP program.