June 18 (SeeNews) - Turkey's sovereign wealth fund said it has agreed to buy a 26.2% stake in Turkish mobile phone operator Turkcell [IST:TCELL] from some of its direct and indirect shareholders, which will see the fund take control over the target company.
Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF) will acquire most of the shareholding - 24.02% - in Turkcell from Sweden's telecommunications services provider Telia Company for $530 million (471.5 million euro), the fund said in a statement on Wednesday.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
Telia holds the shareholding in Turkcell indirectly. The Swedish firm owns 47.1% of Turkcell Holding, the company that holds a stake of 51% in Turkcell.
TWF said that as part of a series of agreements, the Turkcell Holding joint venture was effectively terminated, with Turkish conglomerate Cukurova and Telia exiting their indirect interests in Turkcell.
Furthermore, Luxembourg-based investment vehicle LetterOne will acquire a direct 24.8% stake in the mobile phone operator by restructuring its current interest in Turkcell Holding.
Following the transactions, expected to complete in the second half of 2020, TWF will become the largest shareholder in Turkcell and will hold 15% privileged shares within its 26.2% holding, winning effective control over the board of directors.
($ = 0.8896 euro)