Turkey’s Turkcell to make offer for TeliaSonera’s Eurasian Fintur

ANKARA - Reuters

Turkey’s largest telecoms operator Turkcell on Nov. 25 said it was making a non-binding indicative offer for Nordic firm TeliaSonera’s 58.55 percent stake in its Eurasian unit Fintur.

TeliaSonera announced in September that it would be withdrawing from its Central Asian markets, hit by years of investigations into corruption allegations linked to local partners, and problems accessing cash in distant countries. 

Turkcell said in the same month that it was considering increasing its 41.45 pct stake in Fintur, which has operating interests in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova.

“Turkcell is not the only one who is interested in Fintur,” Henrik Westman, TeliaSonera’s spokesman, said on Nov. 25.

“Since we announced this a little more than two months ago, we have seen a big interest for our businesses in Eurasia, including the four Fintur countries.”

In a separate statement Turkcell also said it was looking to simplify its holding by merging some of its affiliate companies.