Turkcell major shareholders hope Turkish authorities will not intervene in the shareholder dispute that has prevented the company from agreeing on a management board or paying dividends now that resolution talks are at a critical stage.
Turkish news…
Turkcell major shareholders hope Turkish authorities will not intervene in the shareholder dispute that has prevented the company from agreeing on a management board or paying dividends now that resolution talks are at a critical stage.
Turkish news service Bloomberg HT today cited deputy prime minister Ali Babacan as saying that, while the government would prefer Turkcell shareholders to agree among themselves, the Capital Markets Board (CMB) could step in if they fail to do so within an acceptable timeframe.
The Istanbul-based mobile operator’s major shareholders – Sweden’s TeliaSonera, Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Altimo and Turkish founder Mehmet Karamehmet’s Cukurova Holding, have disputed Turkell’s ownership and governance for several years.
Turkish authorities “cannot allow” the mobile operator to be without a management board, Babacan was quoted as saying, pointing out that the company performs an important public function and counts members of the public among its minority shareholders.
Turkcell called off its AGM, set to be held yesterday, as the 51% quorum required was not reached. A TeliaSonera spokesperson said this was a result of disagreement among major shareholders.
Acknowledging that shareholders have been in “deadlock” for some time, leading to a delay in satisfying CMB regulations, the spokesperson said TeliaSonera has been “working very hard and diligently with other shareholders” to resolve issues.
The spokesperson said TeliaSonera hopes Turkish authorities will respect the 30-day grace period following the postponed AGM and not take any immediate action. TeliaSonera hopes there will be an AGM shortly after this grace period.
Commenting on the news, an Altimo spokesperson said the company hoped Turkish authorities would not intervene now that is dispute resolution process with Cukurova is at a delicate stage.
“Our dispute resolution is now within the [UK’s] Privy Council power. We hope that there will be no major intervention of the Turkish government into Turkcell’s shareholder’s issue, especially now, when the issue is in the court”.
The Privy Council ruled in January that Altimo was justified in appropriating a 13.5% stake in Turkcell from Cukurova until the latter repays a loan. The exact amount to be repaid is yet to be determined.
In March, the CMB appointed three independent members to the Turkcell board because of the operator’s failure to satisfy corporate governance regulations. The new members are to remain on the board until the company appoints its own independent members in accordance with regulations.
Altimo said in a statement shortly after the appointments were made that it considers them “a forced and temporary measure”. The company said it expects that, when its dispute with Cukurova is resolved, an AGM of shareholders will be convened and a board which “fairly reflects” the company’s ownership structure will be created.
