Energy sector has 'full confidence' in Turkish banking sector


Regarding ongoing discussions in the energy sector related to loans reaching the saturation point and the difficulties in finding external resources, Enerjisa CEO Kıvanç Zaimler said Turkish banks are strong enough to back the sector, pointing out that this has been proven by recent financing and restructuring in the sector. Noting that bond issues are supplementary to other financing resources, Zaimler said they are not sufficient for the current circumstances due to relatively low liquidity and short term agreements.Başkent Electricity Distribution Inc. (EDAŞ), one of Enerjisa's subsidiaries, is getting ready to issue its bonds to sell them abroad for the second time following its first Inflation-indexed (Consumer Price Index-CPI) bonds issued last week.Stressing that the demand for the EDAŞ's bond issue is a really important step, Zaimler said the issues could be used in distribution and purchase financing in accordance with Enerjisa's financing policies, adding that they do not currently plan on issuing bonds in the production sector in the short term.The demand for the first stage of the bond issue indicated the trust in the sector in the markets, Zaimler told Anadolu Agency (AA).Saying that three-year bonds worth TL 200 million were issued by the company last week and were completely sold out, Zaimler declared:"We successfully managed the first inflation-indexed bond issue in a period ruled by the tough conditions in the energy market. We are planning to issue our bonds for the second time in the coming month." Pointing out that bond issues will both contribute to the development of the market and back the company's ongoing investments, Zaimler said the inflation-indexed bond issues would continue in parallel with market conditions.Enerjisa Distribution Companies General Manager Murat Pınar said they aim to use EDAŞ's bond issues to strengthen their power distribution network, increase and expand the capacity and support the investments of distribution technologies along with making investments for the development and modernization of the distribution network and more importantly conducting research and development (R&D) and smart network projects.Stating that the resources obtained from the issuance will also be used for their call center and other investments, Pınar said the aforementioned resource will also facilitate the company's refinancing of the current bank loans.Following the book building on Aug. 11-12, Başkent EDAŞ had completely sold inflation-indexed bonds worth TL 200 million, which became effective Aug. 15 and whose redemption date was Aug. 12, 2019. Most of the issues were reportedly purchased by private pension and insurance companies, portfolio management companies and banks.