The fall in the Turkish pound, which is forcing the country's central bank to raise interest rates to stem the Turkish currency's slump, is boosting Turkish companies' demands for a total loan restructuring, according to Bloomberg. almost $ 20 billion, while maintaining foreign currency debt equal to 40% of Turkish GDP.
"Turkish banks are learning that all good things are coming to an end," Bloomberg news agency reported in a report today. "Turkish banks are facing a plethora of corporate loan restructuring requests," stressing that after years of accumulating corporate debt. , Turkish banks are currently facing an increasing number of requests from companies seeking to restructure their loan installments.
He notes that the increase in restructuring threatens to cause an increase in non-performing loans, as the dip in the Turkish lira increases the cost of foreign currency corporate loans - which account for about 40% of economic output.
He also cites a rise in Turkish interest rates in a bid to tackle the continuing slump in the pound also raising borrowing costs as Turkey's largest companies seek to restructure nearly $ 20 billion in loans, adding that restructurings boost large-risk loans. to the creditworthiness of Turkish companies.
"The lack of standards for recognizing these loans could obscure the real deteriorating trends in the quality of the industry's assets," Tomasz Noetzel, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said in an email.
"Now that lending rates are higher, the pound is still weak despite recent moves by the central bank, and the ability to service corporate debt could deteriorate further," he said.
According to Bloomberg, billionaire Dogus Holding AS owner Ferit Sahenk, who runs restaurants including the steak chain and social media phenomenon Salt Bae, last month asked banks to restructure loans of $ 2,5 billion. billions of dollars.
Yildiz Holding AS, owner of Godiva chocolate and McVitie snacks, has announced that it has agreed with banks to restructure $ 5,5 billion in loans through a new four-year facility agreement that could be extended for another four years.
In addition, the US news agency reports that the consortia with international partners are affected and notes that the Italian energy company Ansaldo Energia SpA and the Turkish company Investment Unit of Unal Aysal announced that they have started talks on the restructuring of a $ 700 million loan.
It also reports that Italian construction company Astaldi SpA and Turkey's IC Holding AS are in talks with the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China to refinance a $ 2,3 billion loan they entered into in 2013 with new facilities.
All of this is happening, according to Bloomberg, as Turkey's largest banks discuss proposals to resolve the $ 4,75 billion loan default by the owner of Turkey's largest telecommunications company, Turk Telekomunikasyon AS, almost two years after the start of the conversations.