Turkish telecoms-to-construction group Cukurova Holding, which controls Turkcell, last week won a case in the court of the British Virgin Islands against Russia’s Alpha Group that sought to seize 14 percent of the shares of Turkcell, which was put by Cukurova as security for a loan.
In November 2005, the Alfa Group finished a multi-agreement deal with Cukurova, acquiring a 13.2 percent of Turkcell and lending to the Group $1.71 billion secured against a further 13.8% stake in the operator. In a year, Çukurova repaid $357 million of the total loan to Alfa and paid $217 million in interest. Alfa said that Cukurova did not pay the remaining sums on time, and demanded it to repay US$1.35 by Turkcell shares. The BVI court was asked to seize Cukurova’s 13.8 percent stake in Turkcell.
On Thursday, May 27, 2010, the BVI court ruled that the loan agreement was violated, and Alfa Group had no right to receive the shares for an alleged US$1.35mln debt. Altimo, a unit of the Alfa Group, is going to appeal the decision and wait for the final resolution of the dispute in the higher courts.
Turkcell is the largest mobile-phone company in the country. According to Cukurova, Alfa Group specializes in telecommunications investments in Russia, and some neighbour countries. The Russian group is currently holding 44 percent stake in VimpelCom, one of Russia’s two biggest mobile-phone companies, which was in the centre of the dispute between Altimo and the Norwegian Telenor. It is also the holder of 25.1 percent of Megafon, 43.5 percent of Kyivstar, and 4.99 percent of Turkcell.