The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has bought a minority fairness stake in Istanbul-based world attire retailer DeFacto for $59 million (TL 1.12 billion).
The financial institution’s funding will assist DeFacto gas development and broaden its footprint within the economies the place the lender operates, it stated in an announcement Friday.
DeFacto is the primary Turkish nonfood retail firm through which the EBRD has taken a stake.
DeFacto will use the funding to strengthen its inclusion credentials and rework its human assets insurance policies to higher reply to the recruiting and coaching wants of employees with disabilities. The firm will goal a rise within the share of employees with disabilities to succeed in 5% throughout its manufacturing, retail, and workplace operations. The funding can even promote gender equality practices throughout the corporate.
The EBRD’s priorities in Türkiye embody the internationalization of Turkish corporations and rising the depth and resilience of the nation’s capital markets by way of fairness offers.
Hande Işlak, EBRD Deputy Head for Türkiye, welcomed the deal, saying: “The EBRD remains committed to supporting a resilient, international and diverse capital market in Türkiye, and we view our partnership with DeFacto as a vital step toward that goal. DeFacto has great potential to become a moving force for the sector and the country. We are happy to provide resources for the company as it strengthens its inclusivity and gender credentials.”
DeFacto CEO Ihsan Ateş additionally stated that the partnership with the EBRD is powerful proof of their long-term world success.
“In 2022, we increased our sales revenues both domestically and internationally. We entered new markets and increased our number of stores. We had record export numbers and grew our e-trade numbers,” he stated.
Ateş famous that with the EBRD’s funding, they’d put money into new markets and enhance the worldwide share of DeFacto revenues to 70%.
“We will build on the success we achieved in Europe and continue to grow our new-generation franchise and e-trade models,” he stated.
DeFacto is a world attire retailer with a product providing of reasonably priced clothes in a broad vary of classes. The firm has a powerful worldwide presence with operations in over 90 international locations. DeFacto’s international locations of operation are primarily much like these through which the financial institution operates, together with Morocco, Kazakhstan and Egypt.
The EBRD is a number one institutional investor in Türkiye. Since 2009, it has invested virtually 17 billion euros ($18.42 billion) in varied sectors of the nation’s financial system, primarily within the non-public sector.
