(illustration: Oculus)
A new motorway stretches 330 km from the Turkish capital Ankara to the southern province of Nigde. The motorway, which is part of the Trans-European Road Network, opened ahead of schedule. Swiss Export Risk Insurance SERV was also involved in this large project worth EUR 1.5 billion. This benefited not only the Turkish EPC contractor (EPC), but also Swiss exporters.
A sales channel for Swiss exporters
To meet SERV’s requirements in terms of financing structure, the Turkish EPC ERG İnşaat Ticaret ve Sanayi A.Ş. reactivated its Swiss affiliate company, SSB Sauerwein & Schäfer Bau AG (SSB) and staffed it with experienced project managers. It also had to meet Swiss value added requirements. To this end, SSB involved well-known Swiss companies as sub-contractors to supply various goods and services for the project.
With its insurance, SERV opened up an additional sales channel for Swiss exporters in various areas of motorway construction – from the provision of engineering services to the supply of con-struction machinery and the development of the toll collection system.
The issue of financing
SERV co-insured the project with buyer credit insurance for a long 13-year loan in the amount of EUR 130 million. The big advantage for SSB is that SERV benefits from Switzerland’s AAA rating, thanks to which creditors categorise SERV’s risk as minimal. This helped SSB to obtain financing at extremely attractive terms and low interest rates.
SSB has since evolved into a successful Swiss company and established itself in Switzerland. Further orders have followed already, with SERV committing to cover another export transaction by SSB in 2021. Burak Sencer, General Manager at SSB, states: “Following on from the success of this transaction and in line with our objective of becoming a global business, we look forward to utilising the vibrant Swiss industry in close collaboration with SERV for future transactions around the world.”
Tailored insurance
As an active member of the international export financing community, SERV brings EPCs such as SSB and Swiss exporters together. It is open to all countries, taking into account the principles of Swiss foreign policy. Depending on the needs of the EPC, it finds suitable suppliers in various formats ranging from bilateral negotiations to public matchmaking events. In addition, SERV’s specialists are well connected in the Swiss exporting world and work closely with the other players in the Swiss export industry. Carsten Böhler, Head of Acquisition at SERV, explains: “Switzerland has a large number of strong suppliers in various infrastructure sectors and has also demonstrated that it can complete large infrastructure projects on time and to a high standard.” A team of specialists for large projects and project financing works to develop tailored, flexible and innovative solutions with the parties involved, in order to strengthen Switzerland as a business location.