ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Yildiz Holding, the Turkish food giant that owns Godiva chocolate, has signed a deal with its banks to refinance $5.5 billion (4.05 billion pounds) in debt, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday.
Mustafa Tercan told broadcaster Bloomberg HT that Yildiz had agreed to an eight-year loan and offered some of its assets as collateral. He declined to say which assets.
Sources said last month that Yildiz was in talks to restructure $6.5 billion of its $8.5 billion in debt.
Investors have been increasingly concerned about Turkish firms' ability to service foreign currency-denominated debt. Chronic weakness in the lira <TRYTOM=D3> - the currency has lost some 13 percent against the dollar this year - has driven up the cost of debt repayment.
Yildiz also owns McVitie's biscuits and Istanbul-listed biscuit maker Ulker (IS:ULKER).