By Emre Peker
ISTANBUL--Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL.IS) stakeholder
Cukurova Holding AS will keep control of Turkey's biggest mobile
phone operator if it pays a Russian shareholder $1.56 billion to
redeem shares that it forfeited after defaulting on a loan, a U.K.
court of appeals said Tuesday.
Turkish billionaire Mehmet Emin Karamehmet's Cukurova will have
to pay Alfa Group within 60 days to get back the 14% stake that it
provided as collateral to the Moscow-based company, the Privy
Council in London said in a decision broadcast live online.
The decision follows an earlier ruling in the six-year-old case
that paved the way for Mr. Karamehmet to wrest back control of the
company and end a management quagmire that had frustrated
decision-making at Turkcell.
On Jan. 30, the court had ruled that the Russian firm had sought
to control Turkcell by forestalling repayment on a defaulted debt
by Cukurova, and was "obliged to permit them to redeem the charged
shares" if the Turkish conglomerate "came up with the appropriate
sum by way of principal and interest."
The dispute between Cukurova, Alfa subsidiary Altimo and Swedish
shareholder TeliaSonera AB has meant that the Istanbul-based
company hasn't been able to pay a dividend to shareholders since
2010. Shares rallied as much as 4.5% to TRY11.7 after Tuesday's
court ruling, to trade up 3.6% at TRY11.6 at 0905 GMT.
Write to Emre Peker at emre.peker@dowjones.com