Turkcell dividend of 3 billion lira approved at general meeting: Company official

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s largest mobile phone operator Turkcell’s annual general meeting on May 25 approved the distribution of a three billion lira ($841 million) dividend, a company official has told Reuters.

The company stated on May 24 that shareholders of Turkcell Holding, which holds 51 percent of Turkcell, agreed to propose the three billion lira dividend.

Turkcell has been hampered by protracted feuding between three of its shareholders: Çukurova, owned by Turkcell founder Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, and Sweden’s Telia company.

For years the bitter feud even halted dividend payouts, as the board was unable to call shareholder meetings.
Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioğlu said the dividend decision showed “normalization” on the company’s shareholder side.

“I think we are now in the middle of a key normalization process … in terms of Turkcell’s shareholder structure. The agreed 3 billion lira dividend equals to some 54 percent of Turkcell’s net profit from 2010 to now,” Terzioğlu said in an interview on Bloomberg HT TV after the annual general meeting.

Since 2010, the company delivered a 7 billion lira dividend, he added. 

He also said the proposed dividend would be distributed in three equal installments.