By Emre Peker
ISTANBUL-Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL.IS), Turkey's
biggest mobile phone operator, late Monday said it will seek board
approval to distribute at least half of its 2013 profit as
dividend, even as the company remains caught up in a shareholder
dispute between the company's Turkish, Russian and Swedish
owners.
The dispute between Turkey's Cukurova Holding AS, Moscow-based
Alfa Group's subsidiary Altimo and TeliaSonera AB has meant that
the Istanbul-based company hasn't been able to pay a dividend to
shareholders since 2010. Shares rose 1.3% to TRY11.4 in Tuesday
trading, but are still of the all-time high of TRY12.65 reached in
mid-January as hopes for a resolution to the management crisis
peaked. Turkcell forecasts as much as TRY3.5 billion ($1.95
billion) in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortization, or Ebitda, in 2013.
Yet the payout is far from a done deal. TeliaSonera, the Nordic
telecommunications company with a 37% stake in Turkcell and Altimo
blocked dividend payments in 2010 and 2011. Turkcell's board is
still in a gridlock amid pending court cases to settle the
company's ownership.
Speculation that a resolution may be near mounted after the
company's Capital Markets Board of Turkey in March appointed three
independent members to Turkcell's board, but analysts caution that
it is uncertain whether they would approve dividends.
Write to Emre Parker at emre.parker@dowjones.com
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