TeliaSonera hopes to take control of Turkcell

TeliaSonera hopes to take control of Turkcell

TeliaSonera AB, Sweden's biggest phone company, said a tribunal ruling has “improved the likelihood” it will gain control of Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri, Turkey's biggest mobile-phone operator.

Last week, a tribunal in Vienna ordered Çukurova Holding to reverse a transfer of Turkcell Holding stock to a joint venture with Russia's Alfa Group, TeliaSonera said in a statement on March 7. Çukurova breached a shareholders agreement it signed with TeliaSonera by making the transfer in 2005, the tribunal ruled, according to TeliaSonera.

“This award by the arbitration tribunal in Vienna is an important step for us in the right direction,” Stockholm-based TeliaSonera said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. “It is still very difficult to say what the actual implication will be for TeliaSonera.”

Turkcell Holding owns 51 percent of the shares in Turkcell, while TeliaSonera holds 47 percent of the shares in Turkcell Holding, TeliaSonera said. In addition, the Swedish company holds 13 percent of the shares in Turkcell, which gives it direct and indirect control of 37 percent of the Turkish company.“There is probably still a long way to go and many actions to be taken before the shares can be in our actual ownership,” TeliaSonera said.