Turkey’s Cukurova Holding has reportedly applied to a London arbitration court for permission to acquire an indirect stake of 13.2% in Turkcell from Russia’s Alfa Group.
Cukurova has filed a lawsuit with the London Court of International…
Turkey’s Cukurova Holding has reportedly applied to a London arbitration court for permission to acquire an indirect stake of 13.2% in Turkcell from Russia’s Alfa Group.
Cukurova has filed a lawsuit with the London Court of International Arbitration, claiming that Alfa breached a shareholding agreement between the two companies by forming a pact with Sweden’s Teliasonera – another Turkcell shareholder – to squeeze Cukurova out of the mobile operator, local media reported.
According to the reports, the case was brought before Alfa, owned by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, offered US$2.8bn for a 13.76% stake in Turkcell currently held by the Turkish state-owned Ziraat Bank as collateral for extending a loan to Cukurova. Analysts have widely predicted that Alfa’s offer will be unsuccessful, saying the state would be unwilling to see the stake transfer to foreign ownership.
If the London court decides in its favour, Cukurova, owned by Turkish businessman Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, must reportedly pay about US$2bn to Alfa.
Cukurova is reportedly in talks with a state bank to arrange financing for the purchase.
Analysts tend to agree that Cukurova has a good chance of eventually acquiring the stake and that Alfa’s US$2.8bn offer was a tactic to drive up the price if the London arbitration court decides in Cukurova’s favour.
Erdem Hafizoglu, a senior analyst with BGC Partners in Istanbul, said he thinks Cukurova has a chance of success in the London court, although the case is likely to take a long time.
