A loan valued at around $180 million in support of a project to make armoured personnel carriers for the Defence Ministry was signed on 2 October. The 18-month loan with an average life of one year carries interest of 75 basis points over the London interbank offered rate (Libor).

Lead arranger is Garanti Bankasi, with co-arrangers The Chase Manhattan Bank, Bankers Trust and Sabanci Bank. The client is the defence industry undersecretariat in the Defence Ministry, and the loan is guaranteed by the treasury.

The financing will support completion of a project by a venture of the US' FMC Corporation and the local Nurol to manufacture 1,700 armoured personnel carriers (APCs). Around 1,000 have already been made since the project was first awarded in 1988.