Following a deal struck in December 2018, Turkey’s Turkcell has completed the transfer of its 41.45% stake in international joint venture Fintur Holdings to Telia Company’s subsidiary Sonera Holding, making the Swedish group the sole owner of Fintur. The last remaining operating division under Fintur’s (Telia’s) ownership is Moldovan mobile operator Moldcell, which itself is earmarked for sale by Telia.
Turkcell announced on its investor relations website that the Fintur exit transaction was completed on 2 April 2019 for a final value of EUR352.9 million (USD396.4 million). Turkcell expects to post TRY772.4 million (USD137.4 million) profit generated from the transaction in its Q1 2019 financial statement, as the conditions precedent required for the share transfer were completed in March. Turkcell’s CEO Murat Erkan stated: ‘This transaction confirms our Asset Light strategy as well as our strategy to own physical assets in Turkey and drive international expansion via digital assets’ [referring to the group’s expansion of network-independent services including its Lifecell OTT multi-services platform which it has begun providing to overseas operators].