Page 84 - SAMENA Trends - January 2022

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Turkey Wants Telecom Giant’s Shareholder Banks to Finance Buyout

Turkey has approached banks holding a which represents the banks, declined to Akbank TAS, Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS
majority stake in the country’s telecom comment. Months into the discussions, and Turkiye Is Bankasi AS have the largest
giant to finance a planned buyout of the the latest development suggests the fund exposure and are therefore the biggest
firm by the nation’s sovereign wealth fund. may be reluctant to rely on the bond market shareholders in the special purpose vehicle
The fund, known as TWF, is in preliminary or use its own cash to finance the company. Turkey’s Treasury and Finance
talks with private lenders that jointly hold a transaction. It would have to agree with Ministry also owns 25% in Turk Telekom,
55% stake in Turk Telekomunikasyon AS, LYY on Turk Telekom’s value, the loan size including a so-called golden share that
according to people with direct knowledge and repayment conditions, the people said. gives it management control. The wealth
of the matter. TWF wants to secure a loan Talks began last month and a deal is fund currently holds 6.7% of the shares
from the banks to be able to buy their possible during the second half of 2022 at and the remainder is publicly traded on
shares in the telecom company, the people the earliest, one of the people said. Still, the Borsa Istanbul. A deal would mark the
said, asking not to be identified as the talks possibility of a resolution to the years-long biggest step yet in the creeping re-
are private. The stake could be worth saga surrounding the ownership structure nationalization of Turkey’s telecom-
around $1.4 billion based on its current at Turkey’s second-largest operator is munications industry after the wealth fund
market price, data compiled by Bloomberg likely a boon to investors. The shareholder took a majority stake in the country’s
show. Negotiations with the banks are banks, which mostly include local firms, biggest mobile phone operator, Turkcell
ongoing, the wealth fund said in a written seized the Turk Telekom stake around Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, in 2020.
statement to Bloomberg, without providing three years ago after its previous owner
further details. LYY Telekomunikasyon AS, defaulted on a multi-billion dollar loan.

84 JANUARY 2022