Turkey’s Cukurova Group has won extra time to pay Russian telecoms investment firm Altimo the US$1.56bn plus interest needed to regain a controlling stake in mobile operator Turkcell.
The UK’s Privy Council decided after a brief hearing today to…
Turkey’s Cukurova Group has won extra time to pay Russian telecoms investment firm Altimo the US$1.56bn plus interest needed to regain a controlling stake in mobile operator Turkcell.
The UK’s Privy Council decided after a brief hearing today to continue the current suspension of the payment deadline until 60 days after a New York appeals court has reached a decision on a separate case involving the parties.
Interest will accrue from this date. The UK court urged the New York court to make a decision soon so the dispute can be resolved swiftly.
Both court cases are related to a dispute that began when Altimo, part of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group, seized a 13.8% stake in Turkcell from Cukurova after the group defaulted on a US$1.35bn loan. In early July 2013, the Privy Council decided Cukurova, controlled by Turkish businessman Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, was entitled to recover the shares if it paid Altimo US$1.56bn within 30 days, plus interest. Later that month, the UK court gave Cukurova an unspecified time extension to make the repayment.
Today’s judgement marks the latest development in a long-running dispute between Turkcell’s three major shareholders, also including Swedish telco TeliaSonera, which has prevented the company from agreeing on the composition of its board or paying dividends.
