By Emre Peker and Yeliz Candemir
ISTANBUL--Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL.IS) shareholder
Cukurova Holding AS has sought more time to make a $1.56 billion
payment over a defaulted loan, a U.K. court said Tuesday, which
would enable the Turkish conglomerate to reclaim a majority stake
in Turkey's biggest mobile phone operator.
The extension request follows a July 9 ruling by the Privy
Council in London, which gave the Istanbul-based conglomerate 60
days to repay a loan, interest and damages to Russia's Alfa Group,
another major Turkcell shareholder.
Cukurova lost control over the mobile phone operator after
pledging a 13.8% stake in a holding company as collateral for a
$1.35 billion loan from the Moscow-based company in 2005, and then
defaulting on the debt.
Turkcell shares Tuesday slid 1.72% to TRY11.45 after the U.K.
court said Cukurova is requesting an extension, outpacing the 0.77%
decline in the benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 index at 1210 GMT.
Cukurova's billionaire owner, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, asked the
U.K. court to delay payment to Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman's
Alfa until a U.S. appeals court decides on a separate case,
involving Sweden's TeliaSonera AB (TLSN.SK). The Turkish company
also asked the U.K. court to relieve it from additional interest
payments to Alfa starting July 9 until the appeal in New York is
concluded.
Mr. Karamehmet's company had separately entered into an
agreement with TeliaSonera, another major Turkcell shareholder, to
sell the same stake pledged as collateral to Alfa, but Cukurova
later rejected the deal. A New York court had ordered Cukurova to
pay about $1 billion in damages and costs to the Swedish
company.
The U.K. court case is in the last throes of ending a six-year
tug of war between Cukurova's Karamehmet and Alfa's Fridman to
control Turkcell.
Last week's ruling, which set the price tag for Mr. Karamehmet
to reclaim a controlling stake at the Istanbul-based operator,
cemented a January decision by the U.K. court. Earlier this year,
the court in London had said Alfa was "obliged to permit them to
redeem the charged shares" if the Turkish conglomerate paid the
appropriate sum, paving the way for Cukurova to regain control and
end a management quagmire that had effectively frozen decision
making on Turkcell's board.
Write to Emre Peker at emre.peker@dowjones.com and Yeliz
Candemir at yeliz.candemir@dowjones.com
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