Turkey’s Cukurova Holding is in talks with various organisations about arranging financing to pay Altimo the money needed to recover a controlling stake in Turkcell.
The UK’s Privy Council has given Cukurova until 24 June to pay US$1.6bn to Altimo,…
Turkey’s Cukurova Holding is in talks with various organisations about arranging financing to pay Altimo the money needed to recover a controlling stake in Turkcell.
The UK’s Privy Council has given Cukurova until 24 June to pay US$1.6bn to Altimo, part of Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group, to recover the stake in the Turkish mobile operator.
Alfa seized the stake after Cukurova, controlled by Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, defaulted on a loan payment, for which the shares had been pledged as collateral.
Questions arose over whether the Turkish group would be able to make the payment on time after it lost a separate Privy Council case in May, requiring it to pay about US$1bn in damages to Swedish telco TeliaSonera, another of Turkcell’s feuding major shareholders.
Rumours surfaced in mid-May that Cukurova was seeking a long-term loan of about US$1.6bn to recover the stake and that it might use the shares and perhaps oil company assets as collateral. Confirming the financing negotiations in an Istanbul bourse filing yesterday, Cukurova said it would make a further announcement in due course.
The dispute between the three major shareholders has prevented Turkcell from convening an AGM and paying dividends since 2010.
Analysts have speculated that, if Cukurova is successful in recovering the stake, the Istanbul-based operator may finally be able to resume paying dividends.
A successful repayment, however, would not necessarily resolve corporate governance issues. Altimo CEO Alexey Reznikovich was recently quoted as saying such issues will only be resolved if Cukurova exits its investment in Turkcell.
