Dogus Group secures €1 billion financing for Istanbul’s new luxury Galataport project in Turkey

Turkey’s Doğuş Group which is among the historically most successful conglomerates in Turkey, had secured €1.02 billion (US$1.14 billion) in financing from six Turkish banks for a luxury port project near the Galata district of Istanbul along with its project partner, Reuters has reported.

CEO of Doğuş Group Hüsnü Akhan said that Dogus would invest 4.5 billion lira (US$1.5 billion) in the project, which it aimed to complete in the last quarter of 2018. The Peninsula Hotels, operated by Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, would invest 500 million lira (US$170 million) in the project.

The Galataport project envisages a new terminal for cruise ships and a luxury hotel in the touristic Karaköy neighborhood near Istanbul’s historic Galata district, the site of Istanbul’s old berths for cruise liners.

Doğuş Holding and its partner Bilgili Holding placed the highest offer for the privatization of the Istanbul Salıpazarı Cruise Port Area project, commonly known as Galataport with a $702 million bid in May 2013, winning the rights to operate the port area in Istanbul’s Karaköy neighborhood for 30 years.

The Istanbul Salıpazarı Port Area has up to 1,200 meters of coastline and covers an area of approximately 100,000 square meters.

It is expected that the number of cruise tourists could increase to 2 million per year, from the current level of around 650,000, after the project is completed.

Doğuş Holding A.Ş. (Doğuş Grubu) is one of the top three largest private-sector conglomerates in Turkey, with a portfolio of 250 companies, including one of Turkey's largest banks, Garanti Bank, as well as high-end Porsche, Audi, and Volkswagen dealerships, retail and food stores, construction companies, and tourism businesses. It also has major media interests, organised in the Doğuş Media Group.

In Greece, Dogus Group jointly with Temes - controlled by the Greek shipping Constantakopoulos family - submitted the only binding bid for the Athens Hilton.

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