Turkcell shareholder Cukurova’s lawsuit to stop the Turkish cellco from holding an EGM on 12 October has been rejected by the court.
The EGM was called by request of fellow Turkcell shareholder TeliaSonera, the Swedish mobile operator, to discuss…
Turkcell shareholder Cukurova’s lawsuit to stop the Turkish cellco from holding an EGM on 12 October has been rejected by the court.
The EGM was called by request of fellow Turkcell shareholder TeliaSonera, the Swedish mobile operator, to discuss “the removal and election of one or more board members”.
TeliaSonera has repeatedly attempted to replace Turkcell chairman Colin Williams over accusations of impartiality violations.
The Swedish firm, which holds a 37% stake in the group, together with Russian investment firm Altimo, which owns 13.22%, have been seeking to dilute the influence of Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, Turkcell’s founder. Karamehmet owns around 14% of Turkcell through Cukurova, but effectively controls it via a majority ownership of Turkcell Holding, which owns 51% of the mobile operator.
On 30 September, TeliaSonera said it had won a year-long legal dispute with Cukurova in relation to a broken agreement to sell a stake in Turkcell to the Swedish operator.
The arbitration dated back to 2005, when Cukurova initially agreed to sell all its Turkcell shares to TeliaSonera only to withdraw from the agreement.
Cukurova was unable to comment before the press deadline.
