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Bloomberg
Telia AB sold about $500 million worth of stock in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, making progress on a vow to focus on its home region as it reduces its holding in an investment tied up in a decade-long ownership feud.
Stockholm-based Telia agreed to sell 155 million shares in Turkcell to institutional investors in an accelerated offering, the company said in a statement. The shares, representing a 7 percent stake in the carrier, were sold at 11.45 Turkish liras apiece.
Telia is still Turkcell’s biggest shareholder with a combined 31 percent stake. However, much of it is tied up in a partnership that includes Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne Holdings and Cukurova Holding AS, owned by Turkcell founder Mehmet Emin Karamehmet. The partners have been fighting a three-cornered battle for control of the company for years, most recently in an arbitration process that left a stalemate intact between Fridman and Karamehmet.
The feud has tied up money that Telia Chief Executive Officer Johan Dennelind would rather use to invest closer to home. Last month, Sweden’s former telecom monopoly completed an acquisition of Norwegian operator Phonero to strengthen its market position with corporate clients, and Telia continues to look for acquisition opportunities to expand its offering in Nordic and Baltic countries.
“Disciplined capital allocation is of utmost importance in managing Telia,†Dennelind said in the statement. “We are focused on ensuring that as much of our capital as possible works at the core of our strategy.†Turkcell fell 6.7 percent to 11.46 liras at 11:28 a.m. in Istanbul, the steepest intraday decline since Feb. 22. Telia declined 0.1 percent to 36.59 kronor in Stockholm.
In December, Telia registered 287.6 million shares of its Turkcell stake for possible sale, in the first sign the Swedish carrier was preparing to exit part of its investment.