Maple II

pending

 Mersin Uluslararasi Liman Isletmeciligi A.S. (“MIP” or “the company”), https://www.mersinport.com.tr/, is owned by a consortium of PSA International, one of the largest global container terminal operators, IFM Investors, a large fund management company from Australia and Akfen Holding, a large Turkish infrastructure investment company. In 2007, the government awarded MIP the right to operate the container terminal for a 36-year period. The Mersin port is withing the urban area of the city of Mersin (around1.9 million inhabitants) in the southeastern part of Mediterranean coast of Turkey and has been operating since the 1950s.  MIP has a total area of 112 ha and includes 21 berths for containers, dry bulk and liquid cargo. MIP has a number of tenants, including a vegetable oil company, grain storage company, soda ash facility, and a petrol station. All areas of the container terminal come under the responsibility of MIP. MIP also offers ancillary services including the packing of dry bulk cargo and weighing services, as well as regular ferryboat services carrying passengers between Mersin and Northern Cyprus.  The proposed IFC investment is an A loan of up to US$ 50 million to support the expansion of the container terminal to serve larger-size container ships and increase the capacity from the current 2.3-2.6 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) particular average (p.a.) to 3.6 million TEU p.a. The investments entails: i) construction of an 368 meter quay for the extension of the existing berth and an office building; ii) 28 ha container yard; iii) new cruise terminal; iv) dredging within the port to enable large vessels to dock and along the access channel (approximately 3.3 million m3); and v) superstructures including cranes and other equipment (the “project”). The project will be constructed within MIP’s existing footprint.  MIP is in the process of contractor selection and the project’s construction works are planned to commence by the last quarter of 2023. The berth and new cruise terminal are expected to be operational by the end of 2025. In 2013 IFC provided a loan to MIP to issue an Eurobond (IFC project #33943 - https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/33943/mersin-port) and in 2019 a follow-up financing package including refinancing of existing bond (IFC project #43107 - https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/43107/maple). The E&S performance of these previous projects has been satisfactory.