UK backs £680m mortgage assure for brand new high-speed electrical railway in Turkey

€781m help unlocked by UK Export Finance – equal to £680m – will allow Rönesans Holding to complete building of a high-speed electrified railway connecting Mersin with the cities of Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep

Providing a lower-emission transport hyperlink between Turkey’s second-largest container port and inland cities over 150 miles away, the railway is anticipated to cut back CO2e emissions by over 150,000 tonnes a 12 months

UKEF’s backing creates multimillion-pound export contract alternatives for UK suppliers to the rail sector

UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK authorities’s export credit score company, has underwritten €781m of financing – equal to £680m – to help building of a 286km high-speed electrical railway in southern Turkey.

With financing offered by means of UKEF’s Purchaser Credit score Facility, Rönesans Holding will end building of the Mersin-Adana-Gaziantep Excessive Pace Railway on behalf of the Turkish Ministry of Transport.

The deal is anticipated to create new, multimillion-pound export contract alternatives for the UK’s infrastructure, engineering and mission administration sectors, supporting the Prime Minister’s precedence of rising the UK financial system.

This indicators key future alternatives for UK exporters, with Rönesans Holding – certainly one of Europe’s ten largest building corporations – intending to make use of the high-speed rail mission to construct its wider relationships with the UK provide chain.

Lord Offord, Minister for Exports, mentioned:

The UK-Turkey buying and selling relationship goes from energy to energy. Final 12 months, UK exports to Turkey reached £8.5 billion, and this week we introduced plans for an up to date commerce deal that can additional increase exports and imports between our international locations.

UK Export Finance’s backing for this transformative high-speed railway provides to this success story. This deal exhibits that the UK, house to the world’s first railway system, nonetheless strikes full steam forward with its export of railroad innovation and experience.

UKEF’s backing – which has been given on the situation that UK exporters provide to the mission – will help continued financial development within the UK, in step with the federal government’s priorities; Rönesans Holding has already engaged with UK suppliers to barter contracts for digital infrastructure, ESG consultancy companies, catenary and mechanical parts.

UKEF labored in partnership with J.P. Morgan, ING Financial institution and BNP Paribas, who offered the mortgage, in addition to SACE and OeKB – the Italian and Austrian export credit score companies offering reinsurance – to safe this landmark deal for Turkish rail infrastructure.

Dr. Erman Ilıcak, President of Rönesans Holding, mentioned:

We’re thrilled to be working with UKEF, JP Morgan, ING and BNP to safe a deal that can allow a landmark shift within the Turkish building of rail hyperlinks and the high-speed railway mission.

By upgrading the present railway line to a excessive normal railway line, we shall be actively lowering unfavourable environmental influence whereas providing a lower-carbon journey various and considerably enhancing the area’s industrial connectivity and commerce. Rönesans Holding takes immense delight in contributing to Turkey’s nationwide environmental targets and infrastructure development.

Our fruitful collaboration with British Exporters has secured €781m in financing for the transformative high-speed electrified railway in southern Turkey, including super worth to the cooperation between Türkiye and UK exports and companies whereas paving the best way for thrilling international partnerships.

John Meakin, World Head of Export and Company Finance at J.P. Morgan, mentioned:

This mission is anticipated to cut back site visitors congestion on the motorways and promote extra sustainable transportation within the area. We’re honoured to have the accountability to ship the financing for this impactful mission whereas supporting UK exporters offering items, companies and notable technical experience.

In changing the present railway, which depends on diesel locomotives, the electrified line will present a lower-carbon various to current routes between Mersin and Gaziantep. Undertaking forecasts recommend that the finished route will save 157,000 tonnes in CO2e emissions in its first 12 months alone.

The UKEF-backed mission will even contribute on to Turkey’s goal of accelerating high-speed railway protection to 10,000km, by making a rail hyperlink better than the space between Cardiff and London.

In a position to carry trains travelling as much as 200 km/h, this transport hyperlink is a significant step forwards for regional infrastructure and development. The high-speed railway will scale back the journey time from Gaziantep – by way of regional cities Adana and Osmaniye – to Mersin by 4 hours; Mersin is the second largest container port within the nation and a thriving metropolis of over a million individuals.

Treasury and Finance Minister for Türkiye, Mehmet Şimşek, mentioned:

Mersin, Adana and Gaziantep are among the many extremely industrialised and essential cities of the area with their deep-rooted cultural heritage. This mission will guarantee a discount of transportation prices, lower journey time between Mersin and Gaziantep and strengthen our railway connectivity.

On this regard, this mission is essential for financial, social and environmental integration. We’re very grateful to our buying and selling associate UKEF for his or her contribution to this essential mission, which is able to broaden the nationwide railway community.

An important goal of the mission is to enhance the rail connectivity and create a sustainable various transportation scheme in Türkiye. We stay up for persevering with our fruitful collaboration with new initiatives on the best way of growth of Türkiye.

Gaziantep, the railway’s japanese terminus, was close to the epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck Turkey in February 2023. The UKEF-backed mission for finishing this railway will even contribute to reconstruction in Gaziantep, Osmaniye and different areas of southern Turkey severely broken on this catastrophe.