News

News

• GGF provides EUR 20 million as a B-lender to Ford Otosan to finance the next generation of electric commercial vehicles.

• Transaction marks fund’s first corporate transaction in the mobility sector

Luxembourg and Istanbul, 22 July 2021 – The Green for Growth Fund (GGF) has contributed to a EUR 650 million transaction, led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and shared with other commercial lenders, to finance production facilities in Turkey for the next generation of commercial vehicles, including all-electric and advanced plug-in hybrid models, as well as the first large-scale battery assembly plant in the country. GGF’s contribution of EUR 20 million as a B-lender in this transaction with Ford Otosan, represents its first corporate loan in the mobility sector.

Ford Otosan is Europe’s leading commercial vehicle producer and manufactures, assembles, and sells motor vehicles and parts under the Ford brand. The company plans to develop a new series of cargo vans featuring battery electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle variants. The funding also enables the construction of a new battery assembly facility with a 130,000-unit capacity per year, which will be the first of its kind in Turkey.  Both manufacturing plants will be developed in 2021 and 2022, with the new vehicle models to be launched in the first half of 2023.

GGF Chairman Olaf Zymelka said: “This is GGF’s first corporate transaction in the mobility sector, and we are proud to be supporting Ford’s ambitious electrification strategy by partnering with likeminded financial institutions such as EBRD. This investment will be the first integrated plant for electric vehicles in Turkey and thus is a big step forward in transforming the automotive sector to become more environmentally friendly. We hope that this will be a lighthouse project creating tangible, green impact in the region.”
 

ABOUT THE GGF

The Green for Growth Fund invests in measures designed to cut energy use and CO2 emissions, and improve resource efficiency in 19 markets across Southeast Europe, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Moldova, the Middle East and North Africa. The fund provides such financing directly to renewable energy projects, businesses and municipalities or indirectly via selected financial institutions. The GGF’s Technical Assistance Facility maximizes the fund’s investment impact through support for capacity building at local financial institutions and partners. 

The GGF was initiated as a public-private partnership in December 2009 by Germany’s KfW Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, with financial support from the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Austrian Development Bank (OeEB). The fund’s growing investor base comprises donor agencies, international financial institutions and institutional private investors, including the International Finance Corporation, the Dutch development bank FMO, and the German ethical bank GLS. The GGF is advised by Finance in Motion GmbH, one of the world’s leading impact asset managers, with over EUR 2.6 billion in assets under advisory/management. MACS Energy & Water GmbH, acts as the technical advisor. 

For more information see www.ggf.lu and follow us on Twitter @GreenGrowthFund

Media contact GGF
Merle Römer
Manager Marketing & Communications
Phone: +49 (0)69 271 035-171
Email: press@ggf.lu