Turkish lottery operators said to seek $2 billion from banks
By Bloomberg
The group that won the license to run Turkey’s national lottery is seeking $2 billion from lenders including Deutsche Bank AG, Akbank and Denizbank to help pay for the bid, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The lottery operator, set up by Istanbul-based companies Net Holding AS and Hitay Investment Holding AS, plans to borrow the funds for eight or nine years and is close to gaining commitments from banks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential.
Net Piyango & Sans Oyunlari Ticaret AS, the lottery operator, won a government auction for the rights to run state lottery Milli Piyango in July with a bid of $2.76 billion. The government has extended a deadline for the group to pay the fee and sign a final agreement to April 15 from Feb. 26.
Net Piyango is in talks with Scientific Games Corp. for the possible sale of a minority stake in the lottery operator, Net Holding said Feb. 24. The group has the right to sell as much as a 49 percent stake to an investor.
The finance will have a senior secured component and a mezzanine portion, which is a hybrid of debt and equity, according to the people. A Turkish state bank may also join the lending group, they said.
Spokesmen for Net Holding and Deutsche Bank declined to comment, as did representatives for Akbank and Hitay. Noone was immediately available to comment at Denizbank
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