Turkish energy firm Çalık Enerji has secured a €40mn facility covered by Italian export credit agency (ECA) Sace, designed to help the company boost procurement from Italy.

ING is providing the committed loan, which has a utilisation period of two years and a tenor of 6.5 years. Sace says the deal is an “important and unique transaction” because it is not tied to a particular project but will instead be used to award contracts to Italian firms for Çalık Enerji’s “upcoming” power and renewable energy developments in third countries.

The deal will help Çalık Enerji – the first Turkish energy firm to benefit from this type of Sace cover – to grow its procurement from Italian companies.

Sace says the facility “will give opportunities and increase competitiveness of Italian companies, including SMEs, to bid for upcoming projects”.

It is the first time Sace has combined features of a multi-tied buyer’s credit and a traditional buyer’s credit product under a single committed facility, the ECA adds.

Naci Can, Çalık Enerji’s project finance and treasury director, tells GTR that Sace is at the “forefront of ECAs in coming up with innovative medium and long-term products, including bundling smaller ticket export contracts into a single committed facility – an area often ignored by large institutions and yet impactful for exporters and buyers”.

“This coupled with ING’s structuring expertise and operational capability enabled us to close this innovative financing and in compliance with OECD rules,” Can adds. The facility includes disbursements based on past contracts.

The firm is active in engineering, procurement and construction contracts in the energy sector, utilities, and renewable energy investments. It aims to grow its renewable energy portfolio to 1,050 megawatts by the end of the decade.