The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing long-term financing worth €75 million to Rönesans Sağlık Yatırım A.Ş., a Rönesans Holding group company, for public-private partnership (PPP) investments in hospitals. A signing ceremony was held with the participation of EBRD officials and İpek Ilıcak Kayaalp, the Chair of the Board of Rönesans Holding. In line with the EBRD's focus on improving corporate governance and managing climate risk, most of the loan proceeds will be used to finance capital expenditure for the investments of Rönesans Sağlık Yatırım, with the remainder to be used for corporate purposes. Rönesans boasts a total bed capacity of 9,000 in its completed and ongoing healthcare projects in Turkey.
İpek Ilıcak Kayaalp: “The EBRD's support and trust in our company are invaluable”
At the signing ceremony, Rönesans Holding Chair of the Board İpek Ilıcak Kayaalp said: "We are strengthening our long-term cooperation with the EBRD through our investments in healthcare infrastructure. We highly appreciate investments in social reinforcement projects in Turkey; the EBRD's support for health infrastructure projects and trust in our company are invaluable.”
İpek Ilıcak Kayaalp, Chair of the Board of Rönesans Holding, stated that the company continues to make investments and acquisitions through its companies in 30 countries, not only in the healthcare sector but also in energy and industry. She went on to say: "Our top priority is to add value to people and to focus on a sustainable future; this and similar financings that support social development and green, low-carbon investments allow us to focus more on sustainability. At Rönesans Holding, we aim to minimize carbon emissions by using best-in-class efficient technologies in our new investments, particularly in healthcare, industry, and energy. The most important aspect of this project and the EBRD cooperation will be our work on gender-based violence and harassment. Through previous pilot studies, we have ensured that equal opportunities for women and men in the healthcare sector are promoted by comprehensively strengthening our human resources processes, policies, and procedures, including contracted positions. Now, we will further expand our work."
Regarding the cooperation, EBRD Managing Director for Turkey Arvid Tuerkner said, "We have a long partnership history with Rönesans, and we are happy to work with them on this project. This project will strengthen hospital infrastructure investments and transform the company into the country's largest social infrastructure and Public Private Partnership platform. In addition, it will increase the financial resilience and sustainability performance of Rönesans Sağlık Yatırım. We believe that all of Rönesans' efforts will contribute greatly to social infrastructure projects in Turkey.”
Rönesans Sağlık Yatırım will implement a comprehensive plan
Following the highest standards of corporate governance and sustainable development, Rönesans Holding and Rönesans Sağlık Yatırım, with the EBRD's support, will implement a comprehensive Environmental and Social Action Plan to improve corporate governance and climate risk management. Additionally, Rönesans Sağlık Yatırım will implement actionable steps to address gender-based violence and harassment, following the guidance of a key document prepared by the EBRD, IFC, and CDC (the former development finance institution of the United Kingdom).”
On the other hand, all five hospitals that Rönesans Sağlık Yatırım A.Ş. implemented in partnership with the French Meridiam International Investment Fund and Japanese Sojitz have received LEED GOLD certification. In addition, the new healthcare investment being realized with Meridiam, Samsung C&T, and Istanbul Asset Management will also be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified.
Since 2009, the EBRD has invested approximately €17 billion in Turkey, almost entirely in the private sector. As a result, the EBRD's €7.3 billion portfolio in Turkey is the most substantial out of the 38 economies in which the Bank has invested.
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