A court has thrown out Swedish incumbent TeliaSonera’s lawsuit to convene a shareholders meeting at mobile operator Turkcell to remove its chairman. TeliaSonera, which holds a 37 per cent stake in Turkcell, and Russian investment firm Altimo, which owns…
A court has thrown out Swedish incumbent TeliaSonera’s lawsuit to convene a shareholders meeting at mobile operator Turkcell to remove its chairman. TeliaSonera, which holds a 37 per cent stake in Turkcell, and Russian investment firm Altimo, which owns 13.22 per cent, has been trying to oust Colin Williams over alleged impartiality violations.
However, Turkcell said in a statement that “the court has rejected the case on grounds that it lacked a precedent”. Ultimately, they are seeking to dilute the influence of Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, Turkcell’s founder, who owns around 14 per cent of the group through holding company Cukurova, but effectively controls it via a majority ownership of Turkcell Holding, which owns 51 per cent of the mobile operator.
TeliaSonera has accused Williams of blocking attempts to increase the number of its independent board members.
TeliaSonera did not reply to requests for comment.
Cukurova has had its shares in mobile operator Turkcell provisionally sequestered because of an outstanding TL1.25bn (E555m) tax bill. Cukurova could also face demands for a further US$300m (E212m) “soon”, according to one report.
In a regulatory statement announcing the share seizure, Turkcell stated: “With regards to the respective notification, the shares, together with other rights, assets and receivables of Cukurova Holding A.S. pertaining to our company will be determined, and the recording of the provisional seizure will be processed on the corresponding assets.”
Incumbent Turk Telekom has denied that it has made a decision about whether to acquire local pay-TV firm D-Smart.
Reacting to local press reports on May 12, the company made a regulatory announcement declaring that, while it often evaluates different commercial possibilities, “there is no decision to acquire any company at the moment”.
